


The Company

by Aleksa_writes



Series: Android Chronicles [1]
Category: VIXX
Genre: Already, Alternate Universe - Future, Android AU, Before I regret, Gen or Pre-Slash, I regret, I'm so sorry, It's gonna hurt, M/M, Robots, Slow Build
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-19
Updated: 2016-01-18
Packaged: 2018-05-07 16:04:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 26,794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5462663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aleksa_writes/pseuds/Aleksa_writes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She connected the cable, waiting carefully as the android’s eyes, Hakyeon’s eyes, glowed a faint blue hue as he downloaded the information and connected to the house system, Taekwoon.<br/>“Hello, Taekwoon.” said Hakyeon, eyes softening, kind and warm, moving his hands and relaxing his posture, no longer stiff and robotic.<br/>“Hello, Hakyeon.” said the voice from the stereo. “Welcome home.”<br/>“Thank you.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“Hello, this is model KP984-N75, domestic relations. Please input your personal settings on my basic operational system.”   
Mrs. Kim Saejin looked carefully at the domestic android posted in the middle of the living room, among bubble wrap and a forgotten card box, his eyes blank, his face still.  
“Woonie, how do I do this?”  
“You should chose your settings on the available emotions this model can display. Just chose a number between 1 and 5, for the intensity said emotions can reach, where one is the lowest, and five is the highest. Unmark the gaps of the emotions you don’t want the android to experiment.”  
The voice sounding from the small speaker over the table was soft, delicate, sounding careful, as if he was afraid of scaring her, she smiled to herself.  
“I don’t think there is anything in here I don’t want him to experience, it’s all a part of being a human.”  
“You can always select the automatic regulation, he would react as a normal human would, based on his previous experience and his current mood.” said the voice on the small speaker over the table.  
“Oh, that seems nice.” she smiled, pressing the small button with her slightly shaking finger.  
“Thank you for your settings selection, please select a voice tone, and define our relationship status, also select a name for this unit to call you by.” his voice cheerful and kind, but his eyes cold.  
“I think I like this voice… Call me Granny, we are family.” the small smile on her face was far more warm than it should be for a woman talking to a robot, but he was no ordinary robot, he was her company and new friend.  
“Hello, Granny, please choose a name for this unit.” he blinked once, as he normally did every 47 seconds.  
“Hm… What do you think, Woonie?”  
“Do you want me to download a list of male names for you Mrs. Kim?”  
“No, no, Woonie, thank you… Hm, I guess I’ll call him Hakyeon, what do you think Woonie?”  
“I have no formed opinion on this matter, Mrs.Kim.”  
“I like the name...Hm, Hakyeon it is.” she said as she typed slowly on the touch pad, carefully avoiding any misspelling with her shaking hands.  
“Please, connect this unit to your house system for your personal safety.”   
“Woonie, how do I do this?” she asked, raising to her feet. The cat now rolling in the bubble wrap, the soft rustle of plastic the only sound aside from her small steps.  
“Get the white cable on his neck and plug it in my control panel, right beside the television”  
She stepped carefully, avoiding the cat, the bubble wrap, the card box, some of the wires, walking behind Hakyeon, looking for the marking on his neck, for the white cable.  
“Oh, there it is.” she tiptoed, removing the security seal and pulling at the thin, white cable, connecting it to the control panel beside the tv, stumbling on a pillow that fell from the couch.   
“Are you ok, Mrs. Kim?” asked the voice coming from the stereo on the table top.  
“Yes, I’m fine, Wonnie.” she chuclked softly. “I’m just a bit clumsy, is all.”  
She connected the cable, waiting carefully as the android’s eyes, Hakyeon’s eyes, glowed a faint blue hue as he downloaded the information and connected to the house system, Taekwoon.  
“Hello, Taekwoon.” said Hakyeon, eyes softening, kind and warm, moving his hands and relaxing his posture, no longer stiff and robotic.  
“Hello, Hakyeon.” said the voice from the stereo. “Welcome home.”   
“Thank you.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hakyeon is adapting and Taekwoon has to learn how to communicate  
> Granny is just a lovely old lady

Months pass, and the living room is quiet aside from the soft hum of Taekwoon's cooler, right in the corner of the room, turning on every twenty minutes or so. The faint glow of his hologram standing in the middle of the room as Hakyeon walks around, tidying things up and humming to himself.  
“What time is it now, Taekwoon?” he ask, he knows it’s late, but how late is the main point, he must recharge his battery in time to make breakfast for Granny.  
“Four in the morning, Hakyeon.” comes the answer, but even though Taekwoon's mouth is clearly moving around each word, the sound comes from the other side of the room, from one of the small speakers scattered around the house.  
“Thank you.”  
He smiles and places the last pillow on the creamy couch on the living room, sitting down briefly, looking around to find any faults in his work.  
As always, he finds none.  
He looks up, to see Taekwoon shimmering form glowing weakly in the dark room, his frame tall and broad, wearing the clothes granny chose for him days prior, on his personal customization interface. She keeps changing his outfit, changing his hair, keeps telling him he looks nice and handsome, but Taekwoon does not understand the concept entirely, only quietly thanks her and says nothing else.  
In fact, Taekwoon rarely speaks, mostly only says anything when he is spoken to, when he is called... And Hakyeon calls him a lot, says he feels less lonely with Taekwoon there to talk to him, or hear him speak, as usually happens. Taekwoon does not blink, only stares, his expression soft, sometimes making small comments or asking him to exemplify certain things, things he cannot understand.  
He always says that he never actually left the room, and that he is not actually there at all, that his holographic form was designed for the humans, so they won’t feel weird, like they are talking to themselves. Humans feel more at ease when they can look at the person whom they are talking to, and his number one purpose is to make humans comfortable.  
Hakyeon usually says he is doing a good job, then, and that he is thankful for the company while he cleans.  
“You are the one who requested my hologram to keep you company while you clean, Hakyeon.”  
“Yes, sometimes I forget you are in all the small cameras around this place...” Hakyeon states, looking around, fingers scraping over the cloth of his pants, thinking.  
“Do you want me to maintain a reminder of that in your personal database? I can set it to go off every week, if it will help you.” Is the answer Taekwoon offers, seriously offering help, trying to be of any use.  
Hakyeon chuckles lightly, feeling his inner circuits spinning and turning, to simulate a muscular contraction.  
It always surprises him how he always feel on the edge of real and fake.  
He always sees his own reactions as real, even if his humanity is not.  
It never bothered him to know that he is not an actual human, he feels like one, it’s good enough.  
“It’s not necessary Taekwoon, thank you.” and he smiles for good measure, because Taekwoon is always like this.  
“You are welcome.” he says, voice soft, ringing near the couch. “Your battery is running low, you should go recharge.”  
And he should, so up, to the hallway... He looks over his shoulder, but Taekwoon is no longer there, but at the same time, he is, and he is never actually alone at all.  
It’s comforting in a way that it shouldn't be.  
Inside his room, the room given to him by Mrs. Kim... Granny, as he corrects himself, there is a bed, too big for a man that does not sleep, for a man that is no man in the first place. But he feels the mattress dip under him, and he is grateful for this little moments where he can pretend he is an actual human.  
He sighs softly, air that he does not need, but even so his chest rises and falls, because he is a domestic android and humans feel more at ease if they can forget that.  
Hakyeon looks like any other human would, and the reason why he does not regret in the least not being one, is because he feels like he belongs, feels loved and accepted, and it’s fine.  
It really is.  
He is grateful for what he has, and he has so much.  
So he smiles, plugs the thin white cable from behind his neck on the control panel beside his bedpost, and lays down, setting his timer to go off the sleep mode in four more hours, and closes his eyes.  
“Good night, Taekwoon.”  
“Good night.” says the soft voice from coming from the small speaker on the nightstand. “Sleep well.”  
His systems all shut off with the faint green glow of Taekwoon’s sensors scanning the cat as it skips down the hallway.

-+-

Taekwoon’s hologram is crouching down in the front yard, looking ahead like he does when he is updating his personal database. The cat walks through him, his hologram flickers, but he is still looking ahead, standing still.  
So still.  
Granny clearly asked him to use his physical form as much as possible, so he did. She seemed pleased to see him all the time, so he thought that he was doing good. Even now, as he sat down, floating millimeters above the wooden floor, she came and quietly sat on the chair right beside him, smiling warmly at him.  
“What is it, Woonie?”  
“Nothing Mrs. Kim.” he says, moving his head, looking down, at the cat sprawled on Mrs. Kim garden, rolling among some bushes.  
“Are you thinking?”  
“As a part of a collective mind, interconnected database, and a fragment of the program of well care and protection of human life, I do think a lot, Mrs. Kim.”  
She laughs, and he concludes that she is pleased, so it’s fine, even if he does not understand the reason.  
“How are you feeling today, Mrs. Kim?”  
“I’m fine Woonie, later I’ll go out with Hakyeon to buy some things, want something?” she asks good-naturedly, smiling at his hologram sitting on the floor beside her, even if she already knows his answer.  
“No” he says, after briefly checking working systems. “I do not require any physical maintenance at the moment Mrs. Kim, thank you.” he elaborates a bit more, knowing very well that she prefers long sentences.  
“Ok.” she says, smiling.  
She pets his head, even though her hands easily goes through his glowing form. As a response he looks at her, image flickering, because he knows she likes when he looks at her while they talk, even if his eyes are not actually there, but in the cameras behind him, and that hologram was merely a representation made to leave her comfortable with his absence of a physical presence.  
“My holographic manifestation is not tangible, Mrs. Kim.”  
And she smiles again, her eyes crinkle. She finds him a good boy, even though he is no boy, and he does not understand why she smiles so much around him, but she is pleased and no one is hurt, so it was fine like this. Even if he didn't do anything to cause such a reaction from her.  
Hakyeon’s head peaks out of the front door.  
“There you are, Granny. I made some muffins, and the tea is ready.”  
She gets up shakely, grunting softly as her knees tremble a bit, her back hurts - she is starting to get old, she thinks - she smiles fondly at Hakyeon at the door, warm and kind.  
Always warm, always kind.  
“You are so good to me, Hakyeonnie. You do too much.” she says and gets inside, complimenting the sweet smell of baked muffins coming from the kitchen as she goes, patting his arm on her way.  
“Not at all. It’s the least I can do.” he looks at Taekwoon still staring ahead, quiet, his eyes soft as he looks at the flowers Mrs. Kim cultivates. “Come inside too, Taekwoon.”  
He smiles and Taekwoon turns his head to look at him, as he would do to her. “I’m already inside, Hakyeon.” He says because it’s the true, and Hakyeon should know that, and is the cat playing with the cables again? That’s bad.  
Hakyeon sighs and closes the door, he turns on his heels to see Taekwoon standing right beside the couch, watching the cat rub it’s face on one of his movement sensors.  
The cables will be fine.  
“I’ll never get used to you appearing out of nowhere like this…”  
“You requested my holographic form to stay inside the house, I am only doing as you required.” He says, and looks at Hakyeon with genuine confusion on his calm face.  
“I know, I know…I’m not complaining.”  
Hours later Hakyeon stands beside Mrs. Kim at the door, looking at Taekwoon inside the house with the corner of his eyes as he watches the cat, hands on his knees, standing still once again.  
"Don't you want to come, Taekwoon?" Hakyeon is smiling when Taekwoon looks at him, his hologram flickers, bleeding white light over the round pillows over the couch.  
"I cannot leave the house dependencies, Hakyeon. My personal connection does not reach far out the front door."  
Hakyeon seemed a lot more saddened than he should while Taekwoon himself sat impassively with his blank expression and his eyes cast somewhere between Hakyeon and Mrs. Kim.  
"Oh..."  
Mrs. Kim smiles sympathetically, patting Hakyeon's arm.  
"Are you ok, Hakyeonnie?"  
"I'm fine, Granny." He smiles and she closes the front door, saying goodbye, telling Taekwoon she would be back soon. Taekwoon shimmering hologram vanishes in the now dark room, and the cat, now on the couch, curls against a pillow, purrs alone to a technically empty house.  
"Doesn't he get lonely?" Hakyeon asks as they walk down the street, stepping on the lights blinking over the solar roadways. The rails of the monorail buzzes slightly with electricity, the weather is fine.  
"I've thought about that before, but he does not mind, I suppose. As far as I know, he runs his secondary updates when I go out, or something like that. It’s the only time he uses that much words." She chuckles, fixing her name band with her address, house number, ID pass, and basic personal information on her wrist.  
Hakyeon has a barcode, so he doesn't need a name band.  
"Yeah... but isn't he curious about the outside?"  
"Since he is connected to those other computers and I don't know what else, he is not actually locked in, right?"  
"Hm..." He says, eyes casted down.  
"Don't worry, Hakyeonnie, let's get you some new clothes. I have some extra money, we can get you some new sweaters. It's getting colder."  
"You don't have to, really."  
"No, no. My children are all too far away, so let me spend my money on you, Hakyeonnie. We are family after all."  
Hakyeon sighs and smiles, it was unavoidable, she already decided even the type is sweater they would buy.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> in which Hakyeon thinks and Taekwoon tries to be helpful

Mrs.Kim was sleeping soundly in her room, Hakyeon was finishing the last few dishes from the dinner, in the corner of his eyes he could catch the cat passing by swiftly, Taekwoon's sensors beeping softly as it passes, Hakyeon smiles fondly to himself, putting the last plate to dry.  
"Taekwoon." He says, drying his hands on his pants.  
The light near the heat inductor beeps, the red light from the small, round stereo, blinking a few times.  
"Yes?" Says the soft voice coming from the speaker.  
"Don't you ever feel lonely?"  
"I don't understand your question, please reformulate."  
"Join me in the living room, let's talk." He smiles, leaving the kitchen as the light turns off automatically.  
"We are already talking, Hakyeon." He says, calm, turning the living room light on. "Do you want me to turn on the TV for you?"  
"Yes, but I like to look at you while we talk. Come sir beside me."  
"Ok." He says, turning on the TV anyway, his holographic form appearing in the middle of the couch, hands around his knees, floating millimeters above the soft white fabric.  
"Hello." Hakyeon smiles, sitting beside him, looking at the TV, the news channel announced the holidays coming.  
"Hello, Hakyeon." Taekwoon says, looking at him, sitting still, flickering weakly, white luminescence spreading all around him.  
"How was your day?" Hakyeon asks and smiles, hugging a pillow, the cat jumping beside him.  
"Uneventful. My operational system is fully updated, and there are no unusual occurrences in any nearby place, the weather is stable and there are no recent scheduled events for the next two days."  
"So are you bored?"  
"I do not recognize the human definition of boredom as a concrete manifestation, only as a semantic concept." he rests his hands on his knees and looks at him, today he wears no shoes on, and his hair is parted differently, more casual.  
Granny was getting adventurous with this styles.  
"What do you want to watch? We can watch a movie, if you want." Hakyeon says, trying to keep the conversation going, but Taekwoon was never one for conversations.  
"I do not have any formed opinion on the matter, you can do whichever you like."  
"Let's watch a horror movie. It's gonna be fun!" His smile widens, clasping his hands together. Maybe he is feeling adventurous as well.  
"As you wish." He says, opening the list of available horror movies they could watch. "Which one?" He asks, slowly going through the list, not really looking at the TV or the options displayed on it.  
"It doesn't matter, turn off the lights! Turn off the lights!" He answers happily, bouncing on the couch, looking at the list, with his eyes crinkling and his cheekbones high.  
Far too excited for a simple horror movie.  
"Ok." And the lights are off, the movie barely starts and Hakyeon is already shrinking on the couch, clutching the pillow with a serious face.  
"Oh, sometimes bad is going to happen, I know it!" He says, waving his hands toward Taekwoon, who is looking blankly at the TV, face soft and posture relaxed, his unblinking eyes looking ahead, to the cat, on the windowsill licking it's paw.  
A tense music starts and suddenly someone dies, its so sudden that Hakyeon jumps, a high pitched but very short lived scream forming and dying on his lips.  
Taekwoon turns to him, the cat jumps off the windowsill and leaves the room, Hakyeon is pressing against the sit, the pillow thrown somewhere ahead, on the carpet. The camera closes on the blood, Hakyeon closes his eyes.  
"Are you ok, Hakyeon?" He asks, voice soft, as he would do to a scared child, any scared human, looking at him with calmness in his eyes, Hakyeon was shaky and his lips trembled slightly when he said. "No, not really."  
And just like that the movie stopped, the lights were on once again... That was the first death, but Hakyeon didn't seem to be ready for a second one.  
"Are you feeling better?"  
"A bit... Ah, I'm so sorry, I ruined your movie... This was such a terrible idea." He smiles shyly, fanning his face with both hands.  
"I was not actually aware of the action taking place, movies that contain murder instantly set off my protection systems, and since calling the police over a movie does not seem prudent, I was watching your reactions instead."  
"You were... Looking at me?"  
"Yes."  
"Well, now I'm embarrassed." Hakyeon laughs nervously, looking at his feet, hands on his knees.  
"You shouldn't be, I have no reason to ridicule you or belittle you in any manner, if I made you feel this way, I am sorry."  
He smiles, small and soft, looking at Taekwoon, who keeps looking at him, calm and neutral, unblinking eyes watching him intently.  
"Thank you."  
"Are you feeling better?"  
"Yes, thank you."  
"There is no need to be thankful, is there anything else you need help with?"  
"No, I'm fine... I think I'm going to sleep now."  
It's raining outside, it's cold and gray, the colorful artificial lights on the street seeping through the window, it makes Hakyeon shrink inside his coat a little more, his fingertips felt cold.  
Taekwoon looks at him, unaffected, the sticky weather does not bother him in the least. Hakyeon himself, always preferred the cold, so he raises from the couch, eyes on the window for a second as he offers small, brief smile, looks back and Taekwoon is gone, it’s always like this. So he walks to his room, wears the new pajamas Granny was so emphatic about buying. Lays down and watches the window, feeling oddly lonely, flashes of the previous movie stored in his personal recent memory database, he deletes them one by one, carefully cutting and discarding pieces of disturbing murder and gore, sighing contently once it’s all gone.  
“Taekwoon.”  
“Yes?” says the voice from the speaker on the nightstand.  
“Would you keep me company for a while? I don’t want to shut down yet.”  
“Ok.”  
And there he was, tall and broad shoulders, bleeding white light over the carpet, shimmering softly, standing still… The same as always, eyes calm and expression blank, unblinking eyes cast towards Hakyeon on the bed, watching his warm smile, hugging his pillow like he actually needed it.  
“Well, don’t you just stand there, come sit beside me.” and he pats the spot beside him, making room for one more. Taekwoon motions a step, then blinks and reappears right beside Hakyeon, in the exact spot he patted with his hand, his faint glow was cold and impassive, much like himself, unfitting for the soft voice, and hushed tone, like he was always telling a secret.  
His glowing was much nicer in the pitch black room, basking everything else in blurry white, like a firefly, if fireflies still existed.  
But they didn’t, much like Taekwoon himself.  
He did not exist.  
Not like Hakyeon did.  
He was not tangible, not a physical presence, not like Hakyeon was.  
Of course he was never far, and he never actually left, ever. But if Hakyeon reached out to touch his light, he would shimmer and vanish, escape through his fingers, always untouchable. Like smoke.  
Not that Hakyeon ever felt the need to touch him, or anyone for that matter.  
He knew he was capable of the human feeling of want, physically speaking, just like any human would, but he never felt the need to, never felt the pull that so many books and movies always told him about.  
And it was fine.  
It was nice to have someone to talk to at such late hours, and Taekwoon’s voice was always a small blessing.  
“Are you pleased?” Taekwoon’s voice ringed in his ears as a small warning, subtly asking if he was dismissed, they did not spoke in the last few minutes and Taekwoon was instructed to avoid useless waste of energy.  
“I am. Your company is always welcomed.” he smiles, nuzzling his pillow, they were fresh. He keeps telling Granny she should not worry about changing his bedcloth so often, he didn’t sweat, nor drooled, or any other human secretion that could stain the sheets... he could, but he always kept this option turned off, he didn’t understand why would he ever let himself produce some synthetic copy of human secretions just to what? Look more human? To him it just seemed bothersome and unnecessary, and even if Granny kept feeding him in all possible occasions, the food was always stored in a small disposable plastic bag inside his mechanical rib cages.  
It always made him sad to throw out food, so he always ate very little, and smiled politely as Granny complained how thin he was, he could not blame her, she sometimes forgot he was just a domestic android, he forgot that sometimes too, but never for long.  
Taekwoon, on the other hand, always remembered everything. And as he looked at Hakyeon, smiling at him, he quietly organized the daily reminders Mrs. Kim asked him to keep track of.  
Feeding the cat.  
Watering the plants.  
Paying the bills.  
He did all that and more, much more, but he found unnecessary to warn Mrs.Kim about it. He kept track of her children, cared quietly for her personal health, checked if the cat was also healthy, constantly downloaded movies, and also new songs to play on the kitchen speaker as Hakyeon and her baked something, anything really, and then watched as they gave it all to the neighboors, offered to the nice ladies in the book club.  
Granny never ate much as well.  
She always hummed the song he chose, and kept a warm smile to Hakyeon if he sang with her.  
They were both pleased, so he was doing good.  
The cat was now, in the bathtub, sleeping inside it like he usually did when nobody was using. The bathroom was always a hard place for Taekwoon to work with. Mrs. Kim directly said that she wanted him to turn off his cameras whenever she went inside the bathroom, and since she said directly, he begrudgingly did. Turning off the cameras whenever she stepped inside, even so his major program kept running, and just for her safety, he kept his microfones on at all times, just in case she fell, or fainted, or slipped, or anything, because her safety was of utmost importance, and if she didn’t knew about it, she would never mind.  
He usually deleted all the recordings he did just after she left, and she never questioned him about it.  
Everybody was safe, and pleased.  
Just like it should be.  
Hakyeon also asks him to turn off the cameras once he goes in the bathroom, and Taekwoon complies, resigned. Hakyeon only ever uses the bathroom to change, and every few days, rub a wet cloth of cleaning product whose name Taekwoon never knew on his synthetic skin. He claims that he feels embarrassed about changing, knowing fully well that his is, as Hakyeon usually describes, “watching”. Taekwoon is not as invasive as use of the word "watch" implies, he mostly passively records things, and only pays attention when called, or when someone’s vital readings go out of the “healthy” pattern in his personal scans.  
Even so, all images are stored inside his database, and so he never argues about it. He tends to discard them every few days anyway, only the most essential of information are actually stored in his shared cloud mind, with all the other house systems like himself, for public help, only accessible by other house systems, for research and acquirement of expertise in certain areas of human behavior, never for the use of other humans.  
His personal protocol avoids sharing personal information of his collective mind with humans, even if asked to.  
“The cat is healthy.” he said, finishing his scanning analyses, Hakyeon had blinked only once since he started thinking, and looked up at him as he mentioned the cat.  
“That’s good.”  
“Yes.”  
Taekwoon constant presence was always a comfort of sorts, Hakyeon felt a little less weird when talking to himself, Taekwoon normally answered him at those times, when he mumbled things to himself while looking for objects over the house. He did that a lot more than he would like to admit.  
“Don’t you feel lonely, alone here all day long? While I go out with Granny, you stay locked inside…” he says, guiltily looking at his clean pillow case, drawing small circular patterns on it.  
“I do not relate to the concept of loneliness on a personal level, Hakyeon. I am merely a house software system designed to facilitate human interaction with the mainframe and access of data, providing security and comfort in a more approachable and human-friendly environment.”  
“Even so, don’t you get bored of seeing insides of houses and never going outside? Have you ever seem the sky?”  
“I cannot grasp completely what importance the sky may have to the human mind, but for me, it does not matter, it’s the least important thing of all.”  
“Then what's important to you?”  
“Keeping you, Mrs. Kim, and the cat, healthy, happy, and safe.”  
Sometimes, when Hakyeon though he had Taekwoon in check, had him figured out, he pulled this cards, that made Hakyeon question how emotionless Taekwoon actually was, sometimes he smiled, sometimes he was sweet and caring, sometimes he showed up without being called, and quietly watched, expression soft and eyes cast down.  
Sometimes Hakyeon thinks he is just extremely shy.  
“You are very sweet, Taekwoon.”  
“Thank you.” he says, same tone he uses when Granny calls him handsome, the same tone from when her children come by and compliment his soft voice, or careful demeanor, or weirdly serious mindset.  
The tone of detached politeness, when he can’t assimilate feelings, or compliments, or gratitude.  
“You know, Taekwoonie, I like you a lot.” he says, kindly, warm smiles and affectionate nicknames, looking at Taekwoon’s face from below, observing as his eyes carefully fall on him again, the red eye of the cameras turning to him in a silent buzz inside the quiet room.  
“Like?” he repeats, in that soft secretive voice of his, the cameras readjusting themselves in the darkness, Hakyeon hears more than sees it.  
“Yes.”  
“I cannot connect to the feeling you describe, but I appreciate your gesture. Thank you, for liking me.”  
Hakyeon blinks again, his pupil-lenses dilated in the dark, just like any other human eye would.  
“What else do you like?” Taekwoon asks next, his eyes turning to him, even if he does not need to, to make him comfortable, as he would with any other human.  
“Many things.”  
“Exemplify.”  
It was always soothing to see how Taekwoon never cared to set a distinction between him and a real human, as far as he could notice, Taekwoon treated him exactly the same way he treated Granny, her grandchildren, everyone, even the cat.  
Even if he was the less conventionally alive of them all, he was one of the kindest.  
At least, in Hakyeon's eyes he was.


	4. Chapter 4

The last two weeks, Hakyeon has been watching, carefully studying a possibility that was not entirely new for him, but he did not act on it until now.  
He and Granny would go out, and once again, Taekwoon stood in the couch, his eyes turned to them at the door, but his sensors turned to the cat playing with Taekwoon’s green lasers.  
Sometimes he caught Taekwoon doing this, purposefully flashing his green laser scaner around so the cat would try to catch it.  
Hakyeon found it extremely endearing.  
“I have an ideia.” Hakyeon said this so suddenly, both, Granny, and the cat, turned to him, Taekwoon was already looking at him, so he merely remained like this, one of his cameras turning to him as he spoke, like he normally did. “I’ll raise my personal lock, so you can see through my eyes as well, as you would with your individual cameras.”  
Taekwoon just looked quietly at him for a few seconds.  
“This does not break any law or protocol of human safety, but why would you suggest that? It’s irreversible, and I would have full access to set off any off your internal emotion devices, like I would to any computer connected to my mainframe.” he asked, tilting his head far too stiffly to look like a human reaction of confusion.  
“I trust you, you wouldn’t do anything harmful.” and he did, he knew Taekwoon would never harm him, or anyone, never. He would shut himself off before even trying.  
The thought of Taekwoon vanishing made him irrationally sad, for some reason.  
“No. But this could damage your right of keeping certain thoughts to yourself, since every thought you ever generated would be stored in my cloud of personal information. You would be my remote unit of access, this could be highly invasive, even I did not intentionally tried to be.”  
“I trust you to make a good use of this information, then.” he winked in a way he judged playful, hands on his hips, Granny giggled, Taekwoon frowned, in a human-understandable way of showing he did not understood the undertones of such a statement.  
Humor was not his thing anyway.  
“Are you sure, Hakyeonnie?” Granny asked somewhere behind him.  
“Yes, let’s do it. There is so many things for him to see, it’s a shame to be locked up in here.” he smiles, stretching his arm in an odd angle that always made Granny antsy, to fetch the white cable on his neck, and plug it in the control panel beside the TV.  
Taekwoon watched him with careful eyes, still not sure if this was a good idea.  
“Connection successful.” Taekwoon intoned in his automatic voice tone, the one he used for pre-made sentences. “ID accepted. Hello Hakyeon.”  
“Hello.” Hakyeon said, opening the small panel on his left wrist, right under his barcode. A few buttons pressed, a password, and it was done. He lifted his internal lock to grant Taekwoon access to his own personal hardware and software systems, were most of his control settings were.  
“This setting is irreversible, cannot be interrupted or paused, and can be highly invasive and unintentionally disrespectful, once installed the house software system will be granted full and unrestricted access to all controls related to the android unit. Are you sure you want to connect?”  
“Yes.” Hakyeon answered simply, immediately feeling the download of Taekwoon software being installed somewhere on his basic files, things he could not touch or remove even if he tried, mostly related to his movement, expression controls and human protection program. Also his feelings and direct controls.  
“This unit is now remotely controlled. and can be tracked at any moment by the owner or responsible authorities. Thank you for your connection, the cable can be safely unplugged now.” he said, looking clearly unfazed by the enormous amount of words he said, more words used then in the last three days, but this was automatic reaction, and he could not change it.  
“How is it? Can you see it?” Hakyeon asked, far more excited than he should with the idea of showing him the outside.  
“I can. My system is overworking, I will terminate my holographic form until cool down, until then, we can communicate through your own mind Hakyeon.” Was all he said before vanishing, Granny was already at the front door, holding the cake with both her hands, today they would visit the neighborhood association.  
“Let’s go Hakyeonnie, we are getting late!”  
“Oh! Yeah, right.” he scrambled around and left the house with a almost loud bang of the front door... and then, complete silence, the only sound was Taekwoon’s hardware cooler buzzing softly as the cat stood close to it for warmth.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> in which Taekwoon tries to help and Hakyeon discovers something new

The weather was nice, the rain of the previous days was gone and everything felt cold and clean, washed. This was one of the things he liked, the nice feeling of the world after the rain. Granny had her left arm intertwined with his, holding the cake they made that morning.  
He looked around, eyes taking in as much of his surroundings as he could, he wanted Taekwoon to see it all.  
"You should pay attention to the path ahead of you, Hakyeon." and he jumped, startled, suddenly hearing Taekwoon soft voice inside his head so lowly and close to his ears felt.... Weird.  
Like he had just whispered something to him... OK, fine. It's fine.  
"Are you ok, Hakyeonnie?" Granny's voice dragged him back to reality, he looked at her, watching him worriedly, lost for a few seconds before answering.  
"Y-Yeah... I... I just heard Taekwoon speaking inside my head." he said, and it sounded stupid even to him, but she relaxed almost immediately.  
"Woonie? Can you hear me?" She looked around as if she could spot him nearby, sitting still like he would do at home.  
"Yes I can." Ringed the soft spoken tone in Hakyeon's head, next to his left ear, where she was.  
"He can." Repeated Hakyeon, frowning slightly, this was definitely something.  
"Oh, hello Woonie." Her smile was nothing less than fond, tilting her head and making her small eyes crinkle.  
"Hello Mrs.Kim."  
"He says hello." Hakyeon follows, his eyes somewhere ahead, if not for Granny small frame and wrinkled skin, he could swear that Taekwoon was the one beside him.  
Fine.  
It's...  
Fine.  
After that, Taekwoon stays quiet, Hakyeon keeps his eyes trained ahead, on the path ahead. He feels the same, except now he can pinpoint Taekwoon creeping on the edges is his mind, slowly going through every piece of information stored there.  
It's invasive, yes. But Taekwoon is not one to take advantage of the trust placed in him.  
So he sighs.  
He looks at Granny, happily humming a song he does not know, watching the cake in her hands.  
Hakyeon cannot concentrate.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which Hakyeon feels things  
> And Taekwoon tries to give him space.

It's been a few weeks since Taekwoon connected to Hakyeon’s mainframe, and he already realized the problems of sharing his eyes all the time.  
Like changing clothes, washing himself, seeing himself in the mirror, fixing his own hair. It all made him feel too self-conscious, too silly.  
Taekwoon never commented on anything he did, never made any mocking remark on how he stopped to fix his hair every time he spotted a reflexive surface anywhere, never said anything on how angular he was, how he was all sharp edges.  
Never said anything at all, actually.  
He only ever spoke when he considered Hakyeon was distracted and needed to pay attention to his current task, like now, as he cooked and stood still, lost in thought, looking through the window thinking, and things boiled maybe too much on the induction hob.  
“Hakyeon, the food.”  
He jumped in place, the voice sudden and too loud, too close.  
“Sorry.” he hastily pressed the blue button of the hob, leaning against the counter.  
Granny always enjoyed handmade things, so when Hakyeon came along to cook, to clean and to keep her company, she was ecstatic. At the time, he asked Taekwoon to let him do the house work, and Taekwoon obliged quietly, offering help and occasional comments as Hakyeon did things his way.  
“Do you want me to clean this up?” he asked, softly, mercifully speaking through the small speaker beside the hob, Hakyeon eyed the small mess of boiled food and spilled liquid over the black, once reflexive surface, sighing sadly.  
“No. I’ll clean this up. It’s my fault.” Hakyeon was already away, walking around, looking for some clean rag he could use to clean the hob, thankfully nothing seemed burnt, but he couldn’t even taste things to see if it was ok.  
“Are you sure?”  
“Yes.” And he pushed the stewpot aside, cleaning quietly.  
“Are you not pleased, Hakyeon?”  
“I’m just distracted…” he blinked slowly, tossing the dirty rag in the sink, briefly washing his hands, his eyes cast down,  
“Can I help you?”  
Hakyeon is quiet, looking at the small speaker, Granny is taking a nap. Actually, he last spoke to Taekwoon some days ago, quite some time for a conversation face to face... Well, as face to face as any conversation between them could ever be, conventionally speaking.  
Not that anything about their interchange is conventional.  
Moving on.  
"Hakyeon, are you listening?"  
"Yes, I... Was thinking about the food, I'm not sure if I burned it."  
"My sensors did not detect signs of smoke in the air."  
"Ok... Nice." He slides his fingers through dark locks, his fringe is messy but he does not bother to fix it.  
"Aren't you going to fix your hair?"  
Hakyeon's head snaps so fast towards the speakers that he would have dislodged something if he had any bones to begin with.  
"Sorry? What did you just said?"  
"Your fringe is messy. Do you want to fix it?" He repeated, the same soft, soothing tone.  
"I... No, I... Don't..."  
"You look distressed. Do you need space?"  
"I... Yeah, that... I could use some time alone." His hands rubbing down his pants to dry the water that no was no longer there. A bad feeling deep down, on the guts he did not possess, felt them churn unpleasantly, his mouth dry with the saliva que didn't had, swallowed on nothing and took a breath he wouldn't use.  
"OK. If you need anything, call me." Said the soft spoken voice, the cameras around him all turning off at once.  
Feeling weird, feeling misplaced, feeling oddly alone for someone who was already alone, but this... This was worse.  
He laid in his room, normally would prefer to stay on the living room and talk, but not now. Now he laid quietly, the cameras turning off as he entered inside his own room, Taekwoon was offering the space he wanted, but that's how he noticed he wanted no space at all.  
He wanted to be comforted, wanted Taekwoon glowing close as they spoke of nothing in particular, cold and gentle.  
But it felt weird, blurred... There was something off... He should be concerned, but instead he settled in thinking about Taekwoon shy demeanor, if he was an android like him, or even a human, if he had a body of his own, he would be immensely loved by Granny. She always enjoyed his quietness, his soft voice and reserved personality.  
Tall and soothing, probably owner of the best hugs. A shield of long limbs, warm hands and broad shoulders.  
Capable of enveloping Hakyeon entirely, safe and comforting.  
He sighed to himself, a gesture of context and not necessity, looking at his nails and blinking slowly.  
"Taekwoon..."  
"Do you need anymore space?" Said one of the speakers, the cameras still off.  
"No, keep me company, will you?"  
"Yes."  
And he was there, pale light basking the sheets, sitting beside Hakyeon with his legs crossed, looking younger than he should with that big blue sweater Granny liked so much on him.  
"Do you regret granting me access to your mainframe? Is this why you are displeased?"  
"I don't regret it." Hakyeon's eyes open in surprise, baffled expression clear in his features. Taekwoon on the other hand remains the same, expression calm and neutral, looking down at him laying on the bed, searching for lies. “I mean it.”  
“I don’t have any issue with your concern over your personal appearance, I have no reason whatsoever to judge you based solely on your body, you should not worry about that. If that’s what bothers you.”  
Hakyeon’s mouth open and then closes, he looks at Taekwoon and his mind spins over one, and only one question.  
“Have you…”  
“I did not invade your mind for personal reasons, all your information is stored on my connection folder, together with all the information you record with your eyes.”  
“Then you… Can… access my thoughts?”  
“Yes, I have full and unrestricted access over all functions on your body.” he says, flickers once, and then turns his head towards the hallway, where the cat strides by in quiet steps.  
“All of them?”  
“Yes. I have no reason to restrain you in any way, so you must rest assured that I won’t use my remote control over your unit’s physical movements.”  
“What else can you do?”  
At this point Hakyeon is asking more out of curiosity over how incredibly compromised he is than actual interest, it’s a mere interest of wanting to access the damages.  
“I can run you emotion protocols, and feeling programs, also have free access to your eyes, your voice box and your body sensors.”  
“Literally everything.”  
“Yes.”  
Oh…  
Ok.  
“Oh god…”  
If he could sweat, he would.  
But he can't, and for that, he is grateful.  
So instead of sweat, he buries his face on his pillow and makes a strangled noise, like a dying whale.  
A sorry and robotic dying whale.  
Sorry like he actually is.  
"Are you in pain?"  
"No..."  
"You still look displeased. Do you need more space?"  
"No. Stay here." The sound comes muffled by the pillow, he is ashamed and defeated but that does not mean that he wants to be alone.  
He was alone for half an hour, and he felt way more miserable than he did now.  
Enough space.  
"OK." Taekwoon looks down at him, looks at his pitiful state, his face buried on the pillow, grateful he has no need for air. Taekwoon seems to be worried, trying to think of ways to sooth his apparent sadness, but finding no way to do so. "I'm sorry." He states, voice soft, concerned on the edges.  
For most people, the separation between brain and heart is always a source of conflict, since Hakyeon's technical brain and heart are both on his head, but on different sides, the metaphor didn't do him any justice, but in absence of better words...  
"It's not your fault... I'm a little bit embarrassed, but I'll deal with it."  
Taekwoon remains quiet, unconvinced, Hakyeon takes a deep breath once, the air filling his empty chest, going out unchanged.  
"Did you..." And he trails off, voice dying as he tries to finish the sentence.  
"Could you repeat the question please?"  
"Did you see... My thoughts...?"  
"Yes." He answered simply, like any other question.  
"The ones I just had too...?"  
"About what?"  
"About...you...?"  
"Oh... Yes."  
His voice sounded like he was trying to avoid this conversation. Probably for knowing fully well the implications of it.  
"Oh... OK."  
"I don't think anything of it. Don't worry." his voice is careful, does not match his calm expression.  
Hakyeon nods slowly.  
“I should recharge…” Hakyeons says, eyes looking everywhere but Taekwoon.  
“You should.” he nods softly, flickering twice.  
“Will you stay with me?” he asks uncertainly, eyes casted down, looking at Taekwoon’s fingertips.  
“If you want me to.”  
“I do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which I'm extremely confused by how commas work in english.  
> Is induction hob an actual object? I don't know, maybe I never will.  
> Apparently we have an english term for it in portuguese? But it's not same term in english? Does it sound confusing? Well, for me it does.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> About feelings and angst and a sad Hakyeon with a confused Taekwoon

It’s dark now, Hakyeon finished cleaning and Granny is watching TV at the living room, commenting the plot of some series with Taekwoon, Hakyeon can hear his voice from the speakers, making his input about the current episode.  
Granny is too anxious, angry about something Taekwoon cannot understand, as he says to her in his usual tone, but she is not listening, she says something to the cat instead, Hakyeon can hear the cat running down the living room towards the kitchen.  
Hakyeon looks at his own reflection on the mirror in front of his bed, he blinks twice before sighing and closing his eyes, he feels warm, the lights are on and his hands play with the last button of his button-up shirt, there is a washcloth and some cleaning product that smells like flowers on the night stand.  
There is no reason to use the bathroom to clean himself if Taekwoon can see through his eyes.  
Actually... If he were to be completely honest, thinking about it did things to his insides, not unpleasant things, not at all… but enough to make him antsy.  
A different kind of excitement that would make his palms sweat, was he capable of such reaction.  
But he wasn't, and for that, he was glad, once again.  
His fingers still trembled as he reached for the small creamy colored washcloth on the nightstand, but he couldn’t help it. There was still the sound of chatter and Granny was still angry at the sudden turn of events on this episode, and Taekwoon tried to console her with all the social ability he did not possess. Hakyeon smiled towards the door, fingers dealing with the buttons of his shirt in silence.  
He always felt excessively self-conscious of his own body. With all the small visible junction, the lack of proper skin on certain parts, especially on his elbows, that made him feel way too artificial, doll-like... He was not ashamed, he just feared this could change others opinion about him, make them uncomfortable, especially Granny.  
Since the day he came through the door, eyes empty and mind absent, wearing that white plain pajamas he had been boxed with, he never changed in front of her, never used a shirt that showed his elbows, nor any patch of skin that could remind her of how artificial he was, he feared her reaction. Would she get sad? Would she feel disappointed? He didn't know.  
So he didn't risk, the idea of saddening such a nice woman was far too terrible.  
Naturally, he extended his insecurities to Taekwoon as well, even if he was no human himself, he could maybe be reminded that Hakyeon was no human as well and treat him differently, be colder, uninterested, maybe even ignore him altogether.  
The thought hurt in ways he wouldn't even dare to say out loud.  
He sighed again, looking at the mirror, his shirt discarded somewhere. Recently he has been thinking... Hoped that even now, with his chest bare, and all the small junctures of his skin exposed, Taekwoon would not change, because he was just the same. The synthetic skin still felt when touched, the junctions still formed his lean frame, he felt like any other human would, warm and soft, even if he was no human at all.  
He damped the washcloth with the flower-scented product, and started from his arms, like he would do any other day, except this time he had an audience, and even if Taekwoon was quiet, he knew he was watching...  
And there it was... That feeling, doing things with his insides, an anxious kind of excitement, like he was waiting for validation, but not only that...  
There was a proud kind of feeling too, that made his hands move a little slower, a small shot of adrenaline coursing through his veins for knowing that all of Taekwoon's cameras remained focused him, since he was the only moving thing in the room... It made him feel... Important... But that was not the right word... He enjoyed the attention, like he always did, and once he reached his chest, he had to stop for a second, the feeling heavy and his face warm.  
He was doing this to himself, Taekwoon said nothing and probably wouldn't unless called. He laid back on the bed, both hands covering his warm face, eyes shut, feeling heat emanating from his own body in waves.  
So much for a simple cleaning day.  
"Are you alright?"  
Taekwoon's voice made him jump on the bed, sitting up suddenly, he looked at the small stereo on the nightstand, eyes wide like he had been caught up doing something wrong.  
And maybe he had.  
"Y-Yeah, sorry." He covered his own chest automatically, with both arms, even if Taekwoon never actually left the room, had been there the entire time, but he did it without thinking.  
"Why are you apologizing?"  
"You surprised me..."  
"I'm sorry."  
The silence that followed was a heavy one, Hakyeon felt like he could not move, so he didn’t, felt like he could not breathe, so he didn’t.  
Just stood there, frozen, with half lidded eyes and shaking fingers, a bunch of barely coherent words stuck somewhere between his mouth and his mind, Taekwoon said nothing else, so he said.  
“I think I like you.” at once, his voice came out, spitting words like they couldn’t stay inside any longer, but he was not sure about his own feelings.  
At least not like this.  
“You already stated that, and even if I cannot understand your reasons completely, I am pleased to see you find me good enough.” he said.  
“No… I mean I like you in the way humans like each other.”  
“I’m afraid you will need to be more specific, humans have countless relationship statuses, as you know.”  
“You don’t understand…” his hands trembled as he came to understand the feeling, he looked at Taekwoon glowing form appearing in front of him, crouching down to look at him, unchanging face studying his features as he did countless times before.  
But now, Hakyeon himself was not the same.  
“You’re shaking.” he says, his mouth moves but his voice sounds far away, somewhere behind the mirror, next to the closet.  
“I love you. Like humans do.” he takes a deep breath, his face warm, his voice cracking, he didn’t know his voice could crack.  
“...How?” that was all he said, his calm expression contorting in one of worry, a frown creasing his eyebrows. “Do you want me to call Mrs. Kim? I’m afraid I won’t be of any help.”  
“No! No… Stay here, talk to me… Taekwoon I’m so lost… What should I do now? What would a human do, now?”  
Taekwoon remained silence, he had nothing to say, he was no human, he wouldn’t know… Matters of the heart were never his forte; he should keep them happy, keep them safe, but love.... Love was a whole different story.  
It was even harder to find any appropriate answer, since there was no record of humans ever loving non-dimensional being like himself, he was a program, a software, he had no physical body, no comfort to offer other than words and small actions. Hakyeon was warm, soft on the edges… He wasn’t, he had no edges at all.  
He spent most of his time trying to even associate the human feeling of love, so physical, so abstract, he was incapable of understanding both sides. His emotions manifested on a much simpler level… he cared, and for the majority of time, that was the only feeling he could define, the rest was all a bunch of impulses and simple linear feelings.  
Care.  
But he didn’t know if this was enough, probably wasn’t, humans weren’t fond of simplicity, they were complex, confusing, thinking, intense creatures, that escaped his limits entirely, and he watched Hakyeon shaking and his eyes full of something heavy and painful Taekwoon could not name or even grasp entirely, but he knew it wasn’t good.  
He had to do something.  
Something to sooth his pain.  
“What do you want?” he asked truthfully, because he didn’t know, and he could not help if he didn’t know what he needed.  
“You… But can I have that?” And again Hakyeon’s eyes were cast down, to Taekwoon’s fingertips, poking out under his long sleeves, the clothes Mrs.Kim chose for him on his touch-pad for the month.  
“Will you be happy, then?” he asked, because he had to know.  
“Do you want to be mine? I don’t want your pity.” he sounded almost hurt, but Taekwoon could only recognize that bad feeling deepening.  
“I don’t find myself suitable for you… I don’t even know if I can offer what you need, I know nothing, human affections are… Not my specialty... But I care about you… So much... Please don’t be sad, please, not because of me.”  
Hakyeon raised his eyes to look at him, he had seen that face in humans countless times, that was the eyes they had when tears fell from them, but Hakyeon had no tears, not like a human would.  
“I love you…But you are… What does it matter if I love you if I can’t…”  
“Can’t?”  
“...Forget it… Will you stay with me?”  
“For as long as you want me to.”  
“Thank you.”  
“I’m sorry.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> friends I will go on a field trip, so here's another chapter to make up for my temporary absence  
> Thank you for leaving comments, you are a small blessing <3


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which Taekwoon thinks about important things

The night was quiet and Taekwoon was thinking.

Hakyeon was already sleeping.

So was Mrs. Kim.

The cat was in the bathtub, and seemed to be dreaming about long chases and exciting adventures.

Taekwoon, as always, stood, alone and awake, thinking about the day, processing data and storing information.

So as it seemed, Hakyeon had developed feelings for him, feelings he could not fully comprehend, nor quantify, nor analyze.

But Hakyeon seemed to be suffering for it, which was terrible.

As simple and plain as Taekwoon could be, he could still recognize when something was off. Hakyeon’s thoughts in the least few days were… Confusing. It was true the Taekwoon’s feeling regarding Hakyeon had changed since his arrival at Mrs. Kim house, and it was also true that he enjoyed Hakyeon cheerfulness and smiles, much like he did to Mrs. Kim, but in a different direction.

He could not call it love, it would be too arrogant on his part to address such a linear notion of care as love, but it was not a neutral unattached feeling as well.

If he would dare to say it, he could say that he would miss Hakyeon more than others if he was gone for good. Did it make sense? Maybe not.

He was limited like this because Granny refused in any way to terminate his session and update his interface, she claimed he would no longer be the Woonie she knew. His model was already too old by the popular standard, and his emotions too simple, if compared to the newer models.

That may be the problem, he may never reach the complexity required for a relationship.

And that would be enormously unfair to Hakyeon, to make him wait for something Taekwoon maybe couldn’t provide, even if he remotely wanted to, it could be merely a shade of his main program telling him to serve and keep happy. Telling him to please. To fill the gaps that needed to be filled.

But maybe he could do something about it.

Maybe he could search his protocols, search for answers, ask his collective mind.

And do something.

His first purpose was to comfort and protect, and he was failing hard, failing Hakyeon and breaking his heart.

And he had to fix it, fix his deficiencies to give Hakyeon just as much as he wanted to give.

After all he was not lying when he said he cared about him a lot.

He would do something, he would.

Even if he had to go against his own rules.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> in which Taekwoon and Hakyeon have "the talk"

 

Laying on the couch with his eyes closed in the middle of the night, Hakyeon wondered how long it would take for Taekwoon to ask him to go to his room, and how the couch would ruin his back, which would be truth if he had any bones, but he had none.

“Hakyeon.”

“Hm…?” he didn’t bother to move… or open his eyes... or anything else aside from a single small acknowledgement noise.

"Are you ok? I thought you had gone on sleep mode. You've been still for some hours now."

"I'm not allowed to be still? Without you fussing about it, of course."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to insult you."

Hakyeon took a deep breath, rubbing his face with both hands, it was not right to vent his frustrations on Taekwoon, it was not his fault he had no body... This sounded so terrible inside his head, he would never say it out loud for the sake of his own dignity.

"Sorry... It's not your fault... I'm happy you're worried about me... I guess I just like you too much..." He smiled softly, to his surprise Taekwoon smiled back, a small, shy smile.

"I guess… I like you too… I think." He said, sounding kind and gentle.

Hakyeon sat up, feeling his face, his insides, his hands, everything... Warm.

He was so easy to please, it was almost pitiful.

“Really?” he had the urge to sit, to walk around, to hug one of Taekwoon sensors in the living room… It made sense in his head, he would give it no other thought.

“I suppose… In a way, yes.”

“You suppose?” the urge died down a little.

“I have no protocols to make any conclusive insert. It’s hard for me, but I’m trying to come into terms with this.”

"I'm happy to hear that..." And he smiled, warm on the edges, making his face look childish. "You're not saying that just to please me, are you?" His smile waned a little, Taekwoon was the kind to do something like that, saying things just to make others happy, like he was supposed to.

"No. But please, smile, it's good when you do." He said floating around the room, the cat chasing after his holographic image, trying to catch it and failing.

And he did smile, because he was easy to please like that, and because Taekwoon smiled back when he did, and the last few days seemed to be stupid, he was stupid, his fears, his worries, his insecurities... All stupid and nonsensical...

Of course Taekwoon wouldn't treat him any differently because of his joints or his robotic body or his thoughts... He was not this kind of person... Person... Taekwoon was a person... Even if he had no body, he was... He was more deserving of the title than many people Hakyeon had met in his almost one year of life.

"I've been thinking... I would give so much just to be able to do normal human things with you..." He was not sad, but longing, Hakyeon longed for things he never had, but wanted so much.

"Like sex?"

And the moment was ruined.

When Hakyeon raised his head, Taekwoon was looking at him with a serious glint in his eyes, like he actually knew what he was talking about.

"Who taught you that?!" His eyebrows knitted together because how could this kind, sweet conversation fall so fast to a subject he had left untouched for so long.

 _Purposefully_ left untouched.

"I've been doing some research of my own... I searched in my collective data about human relations and... Well, this is something humans normally do with other humans whom they love, right? Did I misinterpreted something? Please, correct me if I am mistaken."

"No... But... I... You are so... Why must you be so blunt?!"

“Sorry.”

Hakyeon catches the green light with the corner of his eyes, just to see the cat strolling by, it's tail up and it's head down, Taekwoon seemed to enjoy scanning the cat, truly, genuinely enjoy scanning the cat.

"The cat is healthy." He said, out loud, and Hakyeon looked at him again, bewildered, torn between amusement and confusion.

Is he paying attention? This conversation is important!

"That's good."

Taekwoon nodded slowly, shimmering and trembling weakly as the holographic projector glitched.

Then it hit him.

"What kind of research did you do...?"

"I've searched in my shared database, as I told you."

“Your shared database… The one that comes from recordings of other house softwares… While they watch people living? That shared database?”

“Yes. But watch is not the right definition, we passively record things. Which may or may not be a part of the users privacy.” Taekwoon said, stopping in the middle of the room, sitting down to play with the cat, or let the cat play with him, more accurately.

"You've watched... People having sex...? Using other softwares eyes...?"

"I did not watch, I've searched for human relations and this was one of the most common results, aside kissing." He said, simply dismissing that subject as something unimportant. He saw worse.

Much worse.

"Oh my  _god_!"

"Why are you so shocked, Hakyeon? I am a collective mind, after all."

"No. We won't talk about it!"

"But Hakyeon there is nothing shameful in that. Sex is normal among most organic specimens."

"Taekwoon..."

"Yes?"

"Stop."

So Taekwoon says nothing else, in fact, he vanishes, and Hakyeon is left alone in a dark room once again. He sighs once more, twice for good measure, and gets up.

His battery is not running low but he feels like sleeping, it's not even three in the morning yet, far too early to go to sleep, he would end up waking up before Granny again, and would have to wait hours until she finally rose from her bed and went to the kitchen looking for him, like she normally did.

But what else could he do? The cat was already going to the bathtub, now that Taekwoon was gone, and going out now was… Not interesting in the least.

It's true that the stores never closed and he could go out to buy some more butter, some more apples, but he saw no fun in buying groceries alone, even if he could.

Granny always left her money card with him, but he rarely needed anything.

And then there was Taekwoon, who normally would be the best option to keep him company late at night, because really, he was the only other sentient existence in the house that never slept. And sometimes he still wondered if he felt lonely while he and everybody else slept, but every time he asked, Taekwoon would say that he is never, ever alone, so Hakyeon should not worry.

This made Hakyeon worry even more.

Now he wondered if he did good in telling him to stop, Taekwoon always took everything seriously and always held a deep sense of responsibility in everything Hakyeon ever said he disliked, even if he meant it as a joke.

Not that he was actually joking, he _was_ uncomfortable, but Taekwoon always did things for a reason, right? And maybe Hakyeon had hurt his feelings?

Feelings... Could Taekwoon's feelings be hurt? He never complained. Not when those extremely rude workers from the Repair Company came a few months ago to mess with his inner hardware and system pieces... Or when the cat ate his cables and the whole power system of the house shut down for many hours and he had to reinstall every single program back in the mainframe, not even when Granny accidentally let juice fall onto his cooler and he overheated all the time for days until the problem was fixed.

Taekwoon is always calm and kind, polite and thoughtful, always asking if Hakyeon wants help with the housework - that Hakyeon always declines no matter how many times he asks - or if he is sad, or worried, or "unpleased"...

Hakyeon took off his day clothes, changing in front of Taekwoon no longer bothered him in anyway, if anything, he secretly enjoyed the quiet attention, he liked to pretend that this simple action was as pleasing for Taekwoon as it was for him.

He never really spoke about it, or intended to, for that matter.

Even if Taekwoon probably knew already.

“Taekwoon…”

“Yes?”

This time his voice sounded from inside his head, on his right ear. This always made him shudder; as he always had the strong impulse to look over his shoulder and look for someone who wasn’t there. However, by now, he could suppress this impulse and stand still.

“What did you have to say?” He asked quietly, looking down at his hands as he sat on his bed.

“About sex?” it was so pitiful... the shudder that ran down his spine just by the word alone.

Hakyeon was too easy to please for his own sake.

“...Yes.” was the answer, willing his shoulders to relax as he wiggled back against his pillow, reaching for the cable on his neck, pretending to be calm. This conversation would not result in anything good.

“I was wondering if you ever thought about it. Your human settings must conventionally make you capable of considering it, maybe even be interested in sex.” he spoke like it was nothing, and maybe for him it wasn’t, but for Hakyeon this all sounded dangerous. “I know you have the protocols for such.”

Ok, so this was a surprise.

“Protocols for what?” he asked anyway, although he already knew the answer for his question.

“Sex related behavior. Human desire and human pleasure as well. According to your instruction manual, they made you capable of displaying such emotions to make your reactions more spontaneous, in case your user prefers to keep you as a sex partner as well. Mrs. Kim did not deactivated this emotions on your mainframe panel, so the protocols are still there.” as Taekwoon spoke, he pointed at a projection on the wall right beside him, a blueprint with Hakyeon’s model basic requirements and capabilities,  Hakyeon just listened, what could he say anyway? “Have you ever made use of them?”

“No.” he said, simply, because he hasn’t. “You downloaded my manual?”

“Yes, I did. Do you miss it?” Taekwoon inquires, and the projection on the wall vanishes.

"Sex? I've never done it, I can't miss it." He was surprisingly calm about this whole thing.

"Let me reformulate. Do you want to do it?"

Silence fell.

Does he?

"I... How? I swear, if you suggest me to go out and have sex, I'll unplug your battery from the energy cables."

"This section would be terminated and I would return to my default settings."

"I'm kidding..." Hakyeon smiles, how serious could Taekwoon be?

"Oh... I'm sorry."

And Hakyeon chuckles, falls to his side, hugging his pillow, curling into himself. It was too easy really... To be comfortable with Taekwoon around.

It shouldn't be this easy... Taekwoon was quiet and unresponsive, but always so nice and gentle that made up for the lack of expressions and complex emotions.

The question is forgotten… for now.

"You're smiling... Are you pleased?" Taekwoon always entitled 'pleased' as a synonym of every good human emotion. Hakyeon's smile only widens.

"Yes I am... I do like you a lot, you know...?" And he sighs, not needing any air, but heavy with emotions.

"I do enjoy your company a lot too." Taekwoon's voice was soft and kind in his ears, if Hakyeon closed his eyes, he could pretend he was actually there, laying beside him.

The silence spread between them, quietness so warm and comfortable that Hakyeon could sleep like this, but he didn't connect his cables to the power panel beside the bed, and he had to move to do it, before sleep mode made him drowsy and useless for hours, and with a low battery on top of that.

"I have to recharge..." Hakyeon's voice was grumpy, he didn't want to move, but he had to, so he stretched out, making much more effort than he should to move as minimum as possible and plugged the cable, falling back onto the bed and staying like that, hopefully for the next few hours.

He opened his eyes to Taekwoon faint glow in the dark, sitting beside him on the bed.

"Are going to hold my hand until I fall asleep?" He joked, his voice low and drowsy, a small, playful smile on his lips as he spoke.

When Taekwoon's eyes turned to look at him, unblinking and serious as always. "You know I can't do that."

"But if you could, would you?" He poked his sides, his finger going through the faint cold light, intangible... As always.

"Would that make you happy?" Was his answer.

"Yes."

"Then I probably would."


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> in which there is cakes and stargazing

The conversation dies, remains untouched for days. Uneventful days, as Taekwoon would say, it is not until Thursday of the next week that Granny states that they are going make cakes... Many cakes... For the spring festival, the medical committee deemed the weather outside the dome good enough not to be lethal, so they will remove the clear filter from the sky, and there will be stargazing.

Only for a few hours, and the secondary filter will not be lifted, but that was already something. It'll be the first time Hakyeon sees actual stars, not artificial reflections projected on a gigantic glass dome.

But Hakyeon was never one to judge artificial things, so he liked the sky all the same, knowing fully well that the real one was gray and toxic anyways.

This festival was all too expensive. The filtering process of the air was hard, and even if the air filters did their job inside the dome, and the subway railways kept people away from the deadly atmosphere when traveling outside the city, the process of keeping the oxygen breathable for extended periods of time with the dome open was always a gigantic investment... It's the first time in five years that the festival is going to happen, according to Granny, and Hakyeon  couldn't be more excited.

Who knows when it would happen again?

She was baking cakes for the festival, humming along the song Taekwoon chose for the evening, saying how she wanted her children to be here and see this, how she wanted Woonie to see this, which Hakyeon quickly amended saying he would, since his eyes were still connected with Taekwoon recording system.

For him this all sounded romantic, stargazing with Taekwoon...

Silly, you might say.

He sighed not for the first time in the last fifteen minutes, a small, secretive smile on his face.

"Are you ok, Hakyeonnie?" Granny asked, stuffing the forth cake in the oven. After all this time, she still kept an electric oven, even if the new radiation ovens were so much better, so much easier, they literally cooked for themselves, but... No means no, and Granny liked her food homemade, as it should be.

"Oh, yes, I'm just... Thinking about the festival." He wasn't lying, he was, in fact, thinking about the festival, but his phrase probably implied a different reason for him to be thinking about the festival... Reasons that didn't involve Taekwoon.

"Ah, it's going to be great, after all this time! It's a shame my children are no longer around, it was always a pleasure to watch the stars with them." She smiled sadly at the bowl of cake mix, quickly smiling brightly at Hakyeon as he mixed the frosting, her eyes closing like they always did when she smiled too much. "But no matter, because now I'm gonna watch it with you, Hakyeonnie."

Hakyeon smiled back, a bit embarrassed, looking at his bowl with a smile a bit wider than before.

Soon the whole house smelled like baked cake... Cakes, actually, and as Hakyeon got dressed, Granny got out to ask the neighbors a few more hands to carry them, which they were most happy to lend if she let them have a slice.

She would anyway.

Hakyeon was getting dressed, shirtless in front of the wardrobe, humming and pondering if he should use some perfume or not.

"Taekwoon." He called, Taekwoon was quick to respond, as he always, appearing beside the mirror with his hands clasped together in front of him.

"Yes?" His voice came from right behind him, from the speaker beside the mirror, now wearing a mint green shirt with folded sleeves and some white pants.

Granny must have changed his clothes.

Nice...

Really nice...

Ok, focus.

"Which one? The gray one or the blue one?" He asked holding the racks in front of his body, turning to face Taekwoon even though it was not necessary.

"I have no beneficial input to make. Why don't you ask Mrs. Kim? Want me to call her?" And he motioned to look at the door, maybe vanish, but Hakyeon was already used to that too.

"No." And he sighed, throwing both shirts over his bed and shuffling around his wardrobe, hands moving the hangers and searching for something suitable. "I can't ask her, no matter what I show her, she always says I'm pretty." And he sighs again for good measure.

"Have you ever considered that she is right?" Is Taekwoon next question, and Hakyeon's hands instantly still.

No... He was not... Implying...

“About…?” his voice trembled with something similar to nervousness, cracking on the edges.

“About you been pretty.” He added, far more confident than he should for what he was saying.

“You… Are you implying that you think I’m pretty?” at this point he was barely paying any attention to the clothes he was going through, hands sliding blindly over cloth.

“I do find you quite harmonic physically.” he said, eyes cast on him, wondering if Hakyeon was paying attention to his current task or not, if not, then he was just wasting time.

“I… Thank you...” it shouldn’t sound so lovely to his ears, so much like a full blown compliment, like he had just said he found him beautiful... But it did, and the small smile Taekwoon offered to his poor, pitiful reaction was enough to put a huge smile back on his own face.

He was in a good mood.

Now he was ecstatic.

He busied himself laughing nervously, fanning his warm face with both hands.

"I'll just wear the blue one, then." He chuckled, fetching the rack back from the bed.

"I'm sure everyone will like it." Taekwoon commented softly, nodding gently as Hakyeon buttoned the shirt with gleeful smile on his face, looking down at his hands.

"Thank you."

 

~®~

 

They go out, finally. Granny and the neighbors decide on a comfortable walk towards the festival, which was a memorial to older times, when the sun was free for all and the air was not filtered, and everything was alive and bustling with color and liveliness... The present was not bad, but sometimes Hakyeon wondered how nice it should be, been able to look at the sky without the dome and the skyscrapers blocking most of the horizon.

Not that he was complaining, he was happy like this too.

He kept looking down, at the pie he was holding, he could hear Granny talking with one of the neighbors, a good man whose name Hakyeon never knew, and his wife that was now complimenting Granny's cakes, the small chatter about nothing in particular that humans seemed to enjoy so much.

But Hakyeon himself was distracted, antsy, thinking about the sky, stars and soft smiles, about secretive voices and kind actions, bold stares and bolder words.

He was doomed.

So preciously doomed.

"Hakyeon pay attention to the path ahead." Sounded in his ears and he didn't jump, wasn't scared or surprised, only raised his eyes from the pie to the street.

"I'm so excited about this festival... Granny said  it's been years... And now, now I'm gonna watch it with my two favorite people." He smiles fondly and holds the plate tighter.

Taekwoon stays quiet for a while, and Hakyeon can almost see his face in his head looking both, calm and slightly confused.

"It's good to know that you are pleased, Hakyeon. I hope you have fun in the festival." Taekwoon says, on his right ear, and Hakyeon closes his eyes for a second, only to be promptly remembered. "Eyes open, Hakyeon. You're going to fall, pay attention."

"Sorry."

The night is falling rapidly, by the time their little caravan reaches it’s destination, the artificial lights are already on, and the festival is bustling with  people walking and talking, waiting for the main event, sitting around on artificial soft grass and polished stone benches.

"Bring the pie to the main table, Hakyeonnie, the dome will be rise in a few minutes." Granny said from somewhere behind him. Hakyeon rarely saw this many people out in the street at once. People normally worked at home, and more often than not preferred to go out only in the early morning, if they got out at all.

He left the pie in the table as instructed, and walked back to the section marked with neon lights, many people were already laying down on the fake grass and waiting.

The secondary filters started running, and a voice started on the speakers, right above the wall outlines announcing clearly. "Attention users, the stargazing will start in a few minutes, please, choose your spots in order."

Hakyeon chose a spot near Granny, but not that close, as she kept talking to the neighbors that came along, and the conversation seemed to be going quite well. He didn't meant to interrupt by passing in the middle.

"Aren't you going to sit beside Mrs.Kim?"  Taekwoon, again on his right ear, asked softly.

"No. It's fine like this." He said as she waved in his direction, motioning for him sit beside her.

"You should go sit with her." Taekwoon was being insistent.

"I don't want to interfere." Hakyeon waved back happily, smiling at her like he always did.

She got up, shaking the invisible dust and fake grass off her clothes, walking to him slowly and sitting beside him with a warm smile on her face.

"I'm sure she does not consider you a interference." Taekwoon said and Hakyeon looked at her, she patted his head affectionately, jokingly complaining about her old age problems and how she would probably need four more people to help her getting up again.

And Hakyeon says nothing else, only lays down and looks at the sky as the dome is lifted, making an awful metallic noise.

All lights were turned off, one hour of complete darkness, which meant Taekwoon would be running on his own generator for the next 60 minutes. Just like all the other houses.

The sky itself was a little blurry, a little dark, but there were stars, three or four at least, not what Hakyeon was expecting, but good enough.

Unfortunately Hakyeon didn't know any constellations, but that didn't made the experience any less enjoyable.

There it was, the real sky... Looking around Hakyeon could spot many people, holding hands, some kissing, some hugging each other... It made him unexpectedly sad.

"I wish you were here..." He said it only to himself, as selfish as it was.

"Who, Hakyeonnie?" She asked, beside him, turning her head to look at him.

"Nobody. I just remembered a movie a watched last week." And he smiled, reassuringly, watching her smiling back, it made his insides ache, lying to her... But he didn't know how he could say it... Say that he may love the house software sounded stupid, and thinking this way made him sad as well.

He should not be ashamed of his love, and he wasn't, but when he thought about telling Granny he simply... Couldn't.

Even so, he would, eventually, it was the right thing to do, right?

“It’s the first time I see the sky like this…” he breathed out, fingers laced together on top of his chest.

“Mine too.” Taekwoon mused, and granny tapped Hakyeon’s arm, still looking up at the sky.

“Hopefully the first of many other times, hopefully one of many other firsts.” She said, warmly.

As always he smiles back.

“Hopefully.” and he smiles because certainly that’s what he is hoping for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> be prepared, in a few more chapters the pain I mentioned in the tags will start, and my sweet sweet Hakyeonnie will start acting more like himself, characters will be added and there will be trouble.  
> Good luck :)  
> Ah, and thank you all for your comments and kudos, know that I update because of you, people. <3


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> About puberty and hormones

 

They go back home. It’s late, but Granny is fine, fine but very tired, it's way later than her sleep hours normally are, and her eyes are heavy, she yawns every few minutes, as she drags her feet across the streets towards their home.

Hakyeon already offered a piggyback at least three times now, that she keeps dismissing with a wave of hand and a frown.

“I’m not a child, Hakyeonnie, I can walk.”

She repeated this same sentence all the three times he offered the piggyback.

He eventually accepts, silently guiding her back, opening the door to let her in, she goes straight to her room, pats his arm and bids him good night.

He flops down on his bed, looking at the curtains, smelling like cake, fake grass, people, and smoke.

He’ll have to clean himself earlier than expected...

"Taekwoon." He calls but his eyes are closed, feeling enormously happy about the entire day.

"Yes?"  The voice coming from right beside the nightstand.

"Won't you sit beside me?" As he ask, he only opens one eye, sprawled on the bed like he had tripped and fell face first onto the mattress.

Taekwoon says nothing and when Hakyeon opens his eyes a second time he is there, right beside him, in the same spot he has been occupying since the first time Hakyeon asked him to stay. "Today was fun..." Is all Hakyeon says, and Taekwoon waits for him to finish, to elaborate further, like he often did. "But... There were a lot of couples... I have to admit, I got a little envious of them.”

Taekwoon keeps quiet, he doesn't need to ask, he can see Hakyeon's thoughts... He knows why he's envious.

"Envy is not a good feeling to have, Hakyeon." It's the first thing he says, followed by a short silence and two useless intakes of breath by Hakyeon's part. "There is something I'd like to try, if you'd let me." And this right here... this tiny little spark of curiosity that will certainly ignite Hakyeon’s existence entirely. “Can I?”

Hakyeon just nods, he does not want to disrupt whatever it is that Taekwoon wants to do, because _what_ could he _do_ that could placate this selfish longing that Hakyeon feels because he is not perfect and Taekwoon is right there but he isn’t and it _hurts._

Because he could never be sure of how much of all this is Taekwoon’s own will and how much is just his main protocol telling him to fill in the gaps that needed to be filled. And the main problem was that Hakyeon is _weak_ and he could fool himself into this madness forever.

Or maybe something somewhat close to forever.

And why is Taekwoon just standing there, creeping silently on the edges of his mind, watching him squirm when Hakyeon is just trying to-

Silence, shattered by a wave of something… Something blinding and too…

Hot…

Burning in the pitch of the stomach he doesn't possess. He was not sure if he could give a word to describe that.

He had no words at all.

But if he could, that would be pleasure.

The broken moan that left him is nothing but strangled, as that tiny part of his restrain still made him remember that Granny was just a wall away, and if she heard this…

If she heard him…

It shouldn’t sound so challenging, and his nails carved the sheets, and his lungs suddenly felt too small for his gasps and he just didn’t know _why._

 _How?_  

And for a second, just a second, he thought he might pass out, from this mysterious earth shattering force…

Then it stopped, and he was there, back to earth and out of breath he would never need properly, but he kept getting those big intakes of air so fast it seemed like he stayed underwater for days. Eyes wide, hands and knees shaking so much that he thought maybe he couldn’t even get up and get mad because wouldn’t be capable of standing.

Taekwoon…

"Did… Did you… Do _this_?!” Hakyeon sits, exasperatedly kicking his blankets and dropping his pillows in the effort of sitting down as fast as he could, his breath refused to even out and _what is this sensation_?

Aftermath.

“Yes.”

A simple answer for a not so simple action.

A not so simple feeling.

“Are you completely…Completely out of your mind?!”

God dammit _breathe. Calm down_.

"Context, please? I’m, in certain ways, always out of my mind." Taekwoon remains as composed as ever, and if Hakyeon could slap him, he probably would. "Your system is overheating, did I hurt you? Are you feeling ok? I do not detect traces of pain in your facial features, but I can discern anger, are you angry Hakyeon?"

"YES!" Calm down. "...Yes! What if Granny wakes up?! What… was that?! I’m... shaking!" The quick succession of painful intakes of breath keps interrupting the sentences he wants to say, he frowns and tries to slow himself down, once again.

"She still sleeps, please calm down. I did not mean to impose or disrespect you, I simply concluded that since this is the only tangible feeling that I can inflict you that would fit the human appropriated setting of a romantic relationship sentiment, virtually speaking, than I should try. However, if I hurt you or scarred you I am sorry. Do you want me to call a doctor?" He stops for a while and Hakyeon keeps hyperventilating, his knees feeling like jelly... They never did that. They shouldn’t do that. "I committed a mistake. I am sorry for my behavior, it won't happen again."

“I’m _not_ your toy!”

“I never even considered that.” Now he looks hurt.

The silence falls again, and remains unperturbed for several moments, Taekwoon can hear Mrs.Kim lightly snoring on the other room, the cat is in the bathtub for several hours now, and it is healthy.

That's good.

Hakyeon keeps staring at him, in silence, Taekwoon says nothing else but it’s clear that are things unsaid. Hakyeon is not mad, it’s not offended, does not regret giving him the permission to try this on him… Not entirely, at least. He was just… Shocked.  

Instead of saying anything he might regret later, he lays down again, facing the ceiling and looking at the many plastic star stickers that Granny glued there, that stopped glowing some months ago. Now the only glow in the room is Taekwoon, apparently deep in thought, but Hakyeon didn't want any thought, he wanted unrestricted attention. "Hey, look at me."

He was, sometimes, a very confusing person.

And when Taekwoon looked down at him, he had no time to recover before Taekwoon spoke. "I'm always looking at you, from several angles at once, sometimes I have trouble reminding myself to keep this form looking to my interlocutor while we talk as well.”

 _“From several angles at once.”_ that's what he said. But he already had lost Hakyeon in the _"I'm always looking at you"_ part.

He should focus, but he was not the most focused person around.

That was Taekwoon’s deal.

"What did you do...? To me... I mean, a while ago..." Hakyeon asked to divert his own attention from the small comment, changing the subject seemed like a wise decision, and it shouldn't, really shouldn't sound so painfully awkward, but Hakyeon couldn't help but feel weirdly... Satisfied? Owned? God, let's keep it at that, this could get a little out of hand.

Because the idea wasn't displeasing in the least.

What now?

"I manually started one of your feeling protocols, following previous research. Now that I started it, I'm receiving a report from your mainframe saying that said programs are now fully operational. I don't quite understand what this means, but I guess that now that I used this portion of your mainframe once, it will now be integrated as a part of your daily memory record. One could say you are now going through humans equivalent of puberty, hormones, I suppose." Taekwoon was musing out loud, and this was probably the longest sentence Hakyeon has ever said saw him say in over a year.

"You said so much... And hey! I'm 27 years old!" He was divided between offended and mesmerised yet again.

"Normally I leave the talking to you, you seem to enjoy your own voice." He commented, hugging his knees. "And technically, you have one year and a half."

"Since when are you this sassy?" He retorted, almost grumpy, he did _not_ enjoy his own voice that much, that was a blatant lie!

"I am not being 'sassy', I'm being serious." Taekwoon offers matter-of-factly, looking at his slightly grumpy companion, laying beside him.

"Yeah, right..." He kept drawing small circles with his fingers on the sheets.

"Hakyeon you are being difficult." And he smiled to the small indignant sound Hakyeon offered as an answer, he was remotely predictable.

"Well, yeah? That's because I'm a teenager now, apparently."

If Taekwoon could laugh, he would, but he couldn't, so he just kept a small smile on his face while Hakyeon mumbled things on his pillow.

"You should sleep, I'll make my leave." He said taking his eyes off Hakyeon general direction. “I’m sorry again. I won’t commit this mistake again.”

"Hey..."

"Yes?" Taekwoon looked down once again, now standing beside the bed.

"I love you, ok?"

"Ok. I do enjoy your temper as well." And he offered a small smile once again. "Good night, Hakyeon."

"See you tomorrow." Hakyeon offered plugging the white cable on the power panel beside the bed.

"I'll see you much earlier than that."

And then, he was gone.

Wasn't sassy...

Yeah, right.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hakyeon wakes up to Granny in the living room, singing to an old song she likes a lot, and by the tortured of a thousand souls in the purgatory, she was probably using that disgraceful vacuum she simply refused to throw away.

He sat down, stuffing his cables back inside his neck, looking around to see his reflection in the mirror, his hair all fussed on the right side.

Charming.

He is already awake, so he gets up, goes to o the living room - the noise is even louder - greets Granny good morning, and goes to the bathroom get the bottle of cleaning liquid, a wet cloth, and go back to his room, close the door, and take his shirt off, sitting in front of the mirror like he always do.

But now, he gets has wash cloth in one hand and his mind lost elsewhere, thoughts lingering on the night before, the feeling still fresh on the back of his memory... Sometimes he wishes he could dream, but dreams are a human prerogative, and he was no human, he knew that much.

Repeated that quite often, to remember.

He feels warm all over, once again.

"Hakyeon."  and  Hakyeon falls back to reality with a thud… of him… falling from the bed, Taekwoon soundlessly appeared at some moment. "Mrs. Kim asked me to 'wake you up' I suppose."

Hakyeon blinks once, his chest, still glistening with the cleaning product, makes him feel weird, this situation repeats itself way too much. He hastily informs Taekwoon he will be there in a second, and Taekwoon motions to leave like he usually does once his task is fulfilled, Hakyeon has no time to choke down the gasped "Wait!" That leaves his lips right after.

Taekwoon stops and looks at him, waiting for him to say anything, unrushed, and when Hakyeon keeps silent for a few more breaths he mercifully offers, "Are you still thinking about last night?"

Hakyeon simply nods, he is not ashamed, just didn't know how to start this conversation, since Taekwoon made it easier for him, all the better.

Sometimes he couldn't help but think that Taekwoon found him over dramatic and silly, for all the calm and composure he had, and Hakyeon himself had not.

"Are you angry for what I did?" He asked, and sounded a bit guilty, worried even.

"No... To... To be honest I..." How could he say this. "You must know by now... I..." Harder than expected, so much harder.

How words work anyway?

"Hakyeonnie! Wake up, stop being a lazy baby and let's go out, it’s getting cold and I need a new cardigan, the yellow one is getting all spotted and itchy. Do you want some new clothes too? I saw some jeans last time I think will fit handsomely in your butt." She said softly from the living room. "Where is Petunia? That cat is not in the bathtub again, is it?"

"Granny! Oh my god!" And he chuckles nervously, face warm, glancing swiftly at Taekwoon just to find him still waiting, unaltered at the butt mentions. "Can we speak later? This kinda messed me up." He lightly taps his cheeks.

Taekwoon nods softly, vanishes.

He throws some clothes on and gets out, Granny is sitting, apparently talking with the cat, which was probably on the bathtub previously, if her tone is any indication.

And they go out, go to 77B-center because Granny likes that store, and she thinks the androids that work there are nice and polite, "good kids" as she would say.

Immediately she goes for some jeans, and by the way they cling to the mannequins legs, it seems like they were sewed there, around those glass legs... Ungodly, but she was categorical about that one pair of pants.

She claimed it would help him "woo someone if necessary" and then she winked, laughed and pushed him inside that small mirrored box in the changing room corridors.

"Woo someone"?

Ok.

There it was... himself, the mirror, his eyes, and Taekwoon, indirectly all together in the same enclosed space.

Isn’t it _great_?

But now...

Now there was something wrong...

Something out of place.

And it most definitely it came from himself.

Taekwoon was quiet, and Hakyeon should be grateful, but he wasn't, he wanted to cause some trouble, he never had this kind of urge before, and it was not totally unintentional that he kept his eyes focused on the mirror as he reached for his zipper.

_Puberty._

He should do it slowly, change his pants like a normal person, go out and tell Granny what he thought of it... But... Oh, god... Granny... Sitting outside, in the white bench, looking at a huge hand catalog, chatting with the sellers and talking about her week, complaining about how thin they all were, that they should care for their health...

His breath hitched.

Could his breath hitch?

Yes.

He took off his own pants, his shirt reached just about his thighs, he wished for a second that they didn't, and immediately reprimanded himself for that one thought.

He got the acid washed skinny offensive tight pants Granny got him, and suddenly the idea wasn't all that terrible... He sat down, looking at the pants in his hands, swallowing for no reason and closing his eyes, heat emanating from his face in waves, he felt like he was shaking... Was he?

Yes.

Breathing as slowly as he could he chastises himself for doing such a fuss over a pair of jeans. So much for a day shopping clothes...

Ok, but said jeans fit, after a struggle of its own, and was enough to divert his attention off the lingering warm feeling on his neck, ears, cheeks…  _Everywhere_... 

He normally didn't wore clothes this tight, but he looked... Nice. Very much so.

"What do you think, Taekwoon?" He said turning around, checking himself so Taekwoon could as well.

"Do you want me to say that I find you attractive, Hakyeon?" He asked, sounding on both ears, like he was there with him, like he could fit inside that small mirrored cubicle with Hakyeon.

Hakyeon takes a deep breath, closing his eyes for a second a smoothing out his shirt with his fingers. "Do you?"

Taekwoon stays quiet for some painfully long moments, making his interlocutor feel antsy, fixing his sleeves like they needed to be fixed before asking again. "Taekwoon?"

"As far... As my comprehension of the word can go, yes." He answers finally, and Hakyeon exhaled for the first time in more than a minute.

“How so?”

He was demanding things he was not sure if Taekwoon could understand, but he could not help but to notice and expect certain things at this point.

Silence.

More silence.

So quiet that Hakyeon debated whether he should ask again or let it pass.

Granny’s knock on the door decided for him.

“Did it fit, Hakyeonnie?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah. Sorry, I… was surprised it fit. I didn't mean to take so long.”

He could hear as she seemed to shuffle between the racks near the dressing room.

“It’s fine, dear. Do you want to buy it? Let me see you.”

Hakyeon walks out smoothing imaginary wrinkles on his shirt, much shyer than he should. Maybe because of last night’s incident, and because he could still feel his insides twisting.

Maybe it was none and he was just shy about Granny’s comments about how they should buy more skinny jeans, they really do compliment his butt.

They do buy the jeans, and as they wait for the monorail to arrive, Hakyeon wonders if he did a good decision in pressing the subject with Taekwoon.

 


	12. Chapter 12

At home, Granny decides to take a nap -the cold always makes her slower, as she would say.- Hakyeon goes to his room as well, hugs his pillow and sighs once, twice for good measure, looking at the cameras around him. Today he would not call for Taekwoon, he would let him be, would not pester him with his needs and cravings for attention _,_ because Taekwoon was not like that, not loud and blatant like Hakyeon sometimes wished him to be.

But if Taekwoon had a body of his own, he would probably prefer to stay at home most of the time, would enjoy the silence and quietness, would play with the cat, would sleep a lot and read a lot, would learn how to play an instrument and try to be useful, help with the house chores, be healthy and active in his own way.

And Hakyeon would love him for it.

But he already loves him for a while now, which was the reason why he was, now, mopping.

As simple as that.

So he sighs once more, wasting air yet again to punctuate his frustration as clearly as possible. He lays down, shuffling around until he concludes he won’t ever find a comfortable position because the problem was not the bed. He could sleep in the closet if he had to, could sleep under the sink, inside the bathtub with the cat.

No. The problem was not the bed. The problem was the silence, was that unwavering feeling of nervousness, like he did something wrong, like he killed a man and buried him under the wooden floor, and the police had said they had to investigate something, so he kept stealing glances to that spot under the carpet because if they knew… If they _knew._

Hypothetically speaking of course. Hakyeon couldn’t kill a man even if his life depended on it.

Why was he considering this again?... Oh, yeah, Taekwoon.

Taekwoon and his invasive ways that were not even remotely close to how _invasive_ Hakyeon sometimes wanted him to be. Damn it all.

“Hakyeon, you look sad.”

Hakyeon jumps, the voice sounding from the door, and then the mattress dipping, Granny taps his arm comfortingly.

“What happened, dear? You are far too distracted these days.”

He spins around on the bed and allows himself to pout as pitifully as he can possibly muster in order to express his misery. “I’m sorry. I think I’m too distracted by Taekwoon on my mind all the time.”

Well, he never specified in which way Taekwoon occupied his mind.

Taekwoon says nothing and Hakyeon sinks further in his pillow.

Granny smiles knowingly, and Hakyeon for a second thinks she knows except she can’t. Right?

_Right?_

“Oh, dear I know this face. This sighs, and all that. Don’t blame Woonie, you have a crush.”

A… A what? Is it infectious? Good gracious she thinks he’s _dying_?

“A… Crush?”

“Yes. That’s short for fawning-over-someone-helplessly.” She smiles, hands on her knees.

Oh…

_Oh…_

Almost like dying then… Hakyeon could empathize.

He may as well be dying, actually.

In face of his silence, Granny infers she is correct, which she is, and keeps talking mercilessly.

“So, who is it? Is it someone I know? Is it one of the neighbors? Tell me is not that Lee girl from across the street, I saw her stealing glances at you and Lord knows she is far too much trouble for a sweet boy like you.”

He frowns visibly. Who? Lee? They have a neighbor called Lee? Really? Oh, he had to go and say hi one of these days because he most certainly never saw them in his entire life. 

“No… I…” he looks at Taekwoon’s cameras and Granny catches the cue before he can pretend it never happened.

“Woonie, can you please turn off your cameras? We need some privacy.”

“As you require Mrs. Kim.” And the red eyes of all the four cameras shut off at once, and the way Hakyeon’s shoulder slump could be easily mistaken by relief but what he actually felt was _pure unrestricted sadness._

“Now, spill it out. Who is it? Did they mistreat you? If they did you give me a name and I’ll go have some words-” she initiates as she puff her chest as threatinly as an old woman can manage. Not very threatening, in fact.

“No… It’s…complicated.” His voice keeps dying on him. “Why you asked Taekwoon to leave? His inside my mind anyway.” He smiles weakly, twirling his fingers over each other like he could summon some magic to diffuse Granny’s attention.

“Don’t make me start guessing, Hakyeon. That would take hours.” He chuckles, looking at him with her motherly judgmental half stare.

“It doesn’t matter anyway, because… I don’t even know, even if they like me back, we could never be properly together.” Saying it out loud burns his throat in a way that made him feel like he was drowning.

“And why is that? What could possibly stop you two? It’s not me, is it?” She says as she pats his hand, dropping the ‘who’ subject for now.

“No. I… They are… So far away, but at the same time I have to see them all the time… I get selfish sometimes… I feel kinda weird talking about this with you, can you just leave it be? For now at least?” he asks, hopefully raising his eyes to expect a nod.

That he receives, after a short pause.

“For now… But don’t think this is over, young man.” She says, finger raised, squinting her eyes in a silent warning, and he nods, too eagerly. “Good. Now. Stop mopping and help me chose some new clothes for Woonie, it’ll help you take your mind off all this.” She smiles good-naturedly. And he accepts, because what else could he say to not raise any suspicion?

He will live through it like he always do.

 

 

 ~+~

 

 

She left.

She actually _left._

Left him and Taekwoon alone in a room together -not that this was anything new, but now Hakyeon with something entitled _touch pad_ in his hands-  and went out for god knows where inside this house for god knows how long.

Maybe she knew all along that Taekwoon was the source of all the pain, problem and the most devious thought he has ever created in his own life, and was merely testing how long it would take for him to start making dying noises on the floor..

Not long, if he was to speculate.

Because Taekwoon was looking at him, and he had that extremely serious expression on his face and _why in lords name his hologram had a shirtless version this in such a unhuman thing to do, he is actually suffering._

He has been sitting there for minutes, _staring._ Until Taekwoon’s voice makes him actually do something because he might as well hug this touch pad and bury himself in the garden. Right now.

“Customization interface shutting down due to inactivity.”

“Wait!” and he gets up, he doesn’t know why, but at this point who cares?

“Please select your wardrobe preference on the touch pad.” Taekwoon intones softly then. “Press finish once you are satisfied.”

He sits down, clears his throat, shyly goes through the clothing options… Are those… Skinny jeans?

_Do they have any leather?_

NO.

_BAD HAKYEON, VERY BAD._

“Want me to download any leather clothing, Hakyeon?”

“Don’t do this!” he blushes hard and almost drops the touch pad. "Stay out of my mind!" he ads, grumply because can't a man even have some compromising thoughts without been offered help?

“I just want to please you.”

Oh…

“I… It’s almost Christmas, do you have anything festive?” he asks and shallows once, eyes focused on the carpet.

“Yes.”

The touch pad lights up, and he is presented with options that go from Greench to Santa in the same list.

“Hey Taekwoon…” Hakyeon keeps his eyes trained on the list. “About today…”

Taekwoon stays silent.

Hakyeon goes silent as well.

“Nothing. Forget it.”

He has to speak his mind at some point… But not now.

More silence, creeping over Hakyeon’s skin in a way that would make him feel cold was he capable of it. He is getting distracted again until Taekwoon says.

“I will speak with you tonight.” He hears inside his head, on his left ear, just in time to see Granny entering the room, with pajamas and a towel on her hair. “Be patience.”

He nods and Granny doesn’t ask.

“You haven’t decided yet? Oh god, Hakyeonnie how indecisive can you be?”

Oh, if only she knew _how_ indecisive he could be…

He stays quiet as she goes through the list, as if Taekwoon’s clothes were a major point of this house well-being.

Perhaps it was.

“We must get you a winter coat, Woonie; it’s getting really cold now.”

“I suffer no influence of the weather Mrs. Kim.”

Of course Granny simply ignored him and kept her eyes fixated at the screen, Hakyeon sitting beside her, but his mind is elsewhere…

_Tonight…_

 

 

_~+~_

 

 

Of course, he heard Hakyeon and Mrs. Kim talking.

Of course, he already knew about Hakyeon’s feelings.

Of course, he was not planning to ignore it and let Hakyeon suffer.

He had been busy, looking for a solution.

He never expected to be loved. Ever. By anyone.

He made it worse by messing with Hakyeon’s protocols… Now Hakyeon had these thoughts… Taekwoon didn’t know what to make of them, these thoughts… Sometimes Hakyeon wondered if Taekwoon felt nothing at all for him and was simply trying to avoid a heartbreak.

Sometimes he had this… Feelings… Feelings he would never be able to completely grasp. Warm and intense but past that it was all… Blurry.

That’s why he concluded…

His mission failed.

He had to shut down.

Maybe start a new session in which he could assimilate this feelings correctly, like he should.

And if he was not there, Hakyeon would not suffer, right?

Right?

To him, it was not true death.

A Home Software doesn’t die, no, that would be silly.

He would be reset, the newest protocols that would provide access to a more complete comprehension of feelings and how they worked.

That’s what the other fragments of his collective mind told him.

Shut yourself off.

That seemed to be acceptable, he would be reborn with a new mind, capable of give what was needed. The family under his care was of utmost importance.

That is why tonight he had to say his conclusion to Hakyeon before restarting the session, so he wouldn’t suffer.

Not anymore.

Not because of him.

 


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> in which there is problems and hyung happens

The night comes and Mrs. Kim is watching a movie now, happy with the new attire she chose and Taekwoon would not complain about even if the black coat was kind of hard to render.

Two knocks on the door.

Who could it be at such an hour?

Hakyeon gets up before Granny does, and walks to the door, opening it in one swift motion.

“Yes?” he says, warm and kind, smiling at the man with white hair at the door.

“Uh, is this Kim Saejin’s residence?” he looks a little awkward, carries has many bags and boxes and the clothes he is wearing make Hakyeon conclude he is a mechanic.

“Yes.” He answer slowly.

“I’m Kim Wonshik, her grandson, and I… I was passing by and came to say hello.” His smile was small, much like his mouth, and he scratched his neck, seeming a little off.

“It’s true, Hakyeon. Let him in.” Taekwoon said, again inside his head, and Hakyeon gave way so he could go in, dragging his bags.

Hakyeon offered help, but Wonshik dismissed it with a wave of hands, almost hitting Hakyeon in the face as he did so, his nails cut short under synthetic leather gloves dragging things around the carpet Hakyeon just vacuumed. 

Granny was more than ecstatic. Why didn’t he call? She could have baked a cake! Maybe two! He’s so skinny! What happened with his hair? Oh god.

Wonshik only shyly chuckled through all the attention.

Maybe Taekwoon would have to wait until Wonshik was gone to have his conversation with Hakyeon. He merely kept smiling softly as Granny tried to fix Wonshik’s hair, and he let her, he never said no to her.

Hakyeon smiled as well, his smile bigger, crinkling his eyes, making him look young. It's rare to see her fuss something around someone, does she looks like this when she does the same to him?

“I won’t stay long, Grandma Kim. I don’t want to be a nuisance.” He said, getting his hair back to normal, and looking around.

“Nonsense, young man! You will stay for as long as you want to.”

He smiled once, sitting on the couch, a little stiff, looking at his feet for a few seconds as his smile dies slowly on his lips.

“I have to tell you why I came back, Grandma…” he starts, taking a deep breath.

Mrs. Kim sits down right after him, and Taekwoon turns the TV off.

“Yes? Go on.” She pats his hand comfortingly.

“You know I work as a creator at the Central, right? That I designed the basis of the Program of Protection and Well-Care for Human Life, right?”

“Yes, dear, of course I know.” She smiles. “You make me very proud.”

“I quit… A few years ago.” He said, looking down.

“And why? You used to love what you did.” she looks more sadden then surprised. 

“It was no longer the job I loved, I’ve being traveling around, doing my own research, living a bit.”

“I see no problem in that.” Granny said, because living is no crime.

“A few months ago, I created something…” he looks at her and holds her hands, like he did whenever he wants to lessen the effect of whatever it was that he was going to say next. The last time he did it was when he said he was moving away to work at the Central,

“Something?” she frowned and he got up, walking up to Taekwoon’s control panel, plugging a small flower pendrive in there.

“It’s easier if I show you…” he sighs and rub his hands nervously together as a few of Taekwoon lights blink a little faster.

“New program downloading.” It’s all that Taekwoon said, before a few red lights start blinking. “Serial code not recognized, Mainframe access denied, going offline.”

“Do not send the report to the central, Taekwoon.” Wonshik said, resting against a wall.

“I have to warn you, Mr. Kim, denying information to the mainframe is illegal.” He said, his voice serious.

“I know. I’m sorry, I didn’t want to ask you anything illegal, but your model is too old, he is trying to update you.”

“He?” was Hakyeon question, the first time he spoke since Wonshik’s arrival.

“Are you sure you want to deny the report Mr. Kim?” Taekwoon asked, lights still blinking red.

“Yes, ‘he’. And yes, I do.”

“Report denied. Unit installed. Hello Hongbin.” He says, once, and then, there is a second voice coming from the speakers, and that voice is not Taekwoon’s.

“Hello hyung.” His voice sounded diferent, more lively.

“Grandma Kim, this is Hongbin, he is a portable software, and he is sentient.” the room falls silent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> bear with me.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> in which things start to get out of hand

“Sentient, you say.” Granny blinks a few times, hands poised on her lap.

“Yes. He thinks for himself, has emotions, is physically aware of himself… Non-dimensionally of course, but he is.” is the better explanation he can offer at the moment, no need for details now.

“Oh, dear… That’s incredible.” She claps her hands once and looks at him like he just did a magic trick.

“Hello Granny.” Said the younger voice, Hongbin, apparently. “Thank you for keeping me a secret, hyung. I would be in trouble if you told them about me.” 

“Do not worry. But the mainframe may be warned if I remain offline for too long.” Was Taekwoon’s answer.

It was not that simple of course, but he was committed to help. So he omitted the part about being considered defective. They shouldn't worry about him no longer, he has to be usefull, that's what he was  _made_ for in the first place.

He is not a company droid like Hakyeon.

He is limited.

“Hello Binnie.” Granny smiled, looking at Wonshik for a second. “Why does he call Wonnie ‘hyung’?”

“Well, Taekwoon's model was created first, he associates this as an age factor, and calls him hyung. But you can ask him, he gets awkward when we talk like he’s not here.” he says before Hongbin can complain that he is  _right there_ there is no need to ask Wonshik, he is more than capable of speaking for himself.

“Do you have a hologram too, Binnie?” asks Granny, looking around as if he was invisible.

“Yes.” and there is it, all dimples and soft hair, in that plain with pajamas that come as a default setting.

Hongbin choses pink for his hologram color, he says that Wonshik always complains that he ruins his chances with girls, Granny laughs the entire time and Wonshik dismisses himself to the kitchen in order to make some coffee for them.

Hakyeon doesn't say a word, and keeps silent when Taekwoon’s hologram joins them, Hongbin’s back against his arm, they shared a stored unit after all, proximity was not a problem.

And apparently, they could touch each other as they pleased, and Taekwoon didn’t ask for him to stop… Actually he seemed very comfortable in his presence, and some hours later, Hongbin is sprawled in Taekwoon’s lap talking about things only they could understand.

Wonshik could too, but he is sleeping now, the reason for his visit long forgotten… Granny wasn’t all that worried, if anything, she hoped for this visit to last for as long as possible.

“Why don’t you update your AI, hyung?” he asks, playing with the plain pajamas he had to wear due to the necessity of remaining a secret, and the offline mode did not allow outfit changes.

“My model has to ask for the user’s permission for AI updates, and Mrs. Kim does not allow my session to be terminated.” Taekwoon says, not giving much thought to Hongbin’s head on his leg. Lefting out the part where he could terminate the session if he did something against his basic programings, or if the user is incapacitated, or if is asked to do something illegal.

The churn Hakyeon felt in his guts had been bothering him for hours, but he was still smiling when he said.

“Granny, excuse me, I’ll go to sleep.” he had no right to be what? Jealous? But he was, and the best way to avoid it was to just keep his distance, and he does not turn back when Hongbin and Taekwoon bid him good night.

“Ok, dear, sweet dreams.” She says, briefly looking away from her book, lowering her eyes once again after offering him a sweet smile.

“Thank you.”

Taekwoon said nothing, only briefly glanced at Hakyeon as he left the room, he was not spoken to, and thus kept talking with Hongbin about things, about programs, about updates, about systems, about humans.

He would have to wait a little more before the talk with Hakyeon, he could not expose his feelings to strangers, not if he had a choice, even if Hongbin seemed like a nice kid.

A nice kid that felt the need to fill the silence Taekwoon left behind, and so he talked… And talked… And… _Talked_.

He talked until he had successfully described his entire existence from the moment he was created to the moment they arrived at Mrs. Kim door.

But the worst was that when he was over, he followed that silence with:

“What about you, hyung?”

How is he going to dodge  _that_?

**~+~**

 

“Wonshikie, we are going to the supermarket, wanna join us?” Hakyeon asks, Granny securely tied by arm. Wonshik’s head peak out the kitchen doorframe and he smiles sheepishly. “No, I have to clean the dishes I used last night.”

Hakyeon hums brifly and smiles mischievously. “Trying not be so completely lazy, aren’t we?” he chuckles and Granny pinches his arm, the cat comes running by and goes out, to the street, running out the small hole in the fence.

“You stop complaining before I change my mind.” Wonshik counters, rather loudly, from the kitchen.

Hakyeon chuckles and closes the door, the sound of the lock beeps and Wonshik starts humming a song he heard Taekwoon playing some days ago.

“Hey hyung, what’s this song’s name?” in response to Wonshik's question, one of Taekwoon's cameras blinks and turns to him, Hongbin's hologram is sitting by the table, looking around.

Taekwoon answers from one of the speakers, the one close to the sink, his voice very even. “It’s called Misty, Wonshik.” Wonshik only hums in response.

Hongbin walks around the house, he likes to use his hologram, it makes him feel more real, and since Taekwoon does not enjoy energy waste, he uses his own hologram less.

“I’ve been making some tests, hyung. Trying to fix things up with Hongbin’s battery problem. I’m sorry to make you go through all this…” his hands still for a second under the water, because every single thing with batteries is connected to the mainframe, so he needs to create one from zero. The bigger problem is keeping things offline, because the Central wants to stop people from trying to create things behind their backs… Much like Wonshik is doing actually.

And meanwhile Taekwoon has to hold it together, and it kinda pains him to see Taekwoon offline for so long, he is getting more and more distracted each day that passes by, and he knows that he can only connect again when he and Hongbin are gone because if not, there would be people on the door in no time. The police would take him, and if he goes to jail, he will never create _anything_ ever again.

But he is making progress, pulling out all-nighters and using every single gigabyte of Taekwoon local storage with lines and more lines of code he will then transfer for a remote unit and plug Hongbin _there_.

Once he is done, that is.

Maybe he could create an offline house software and live far, far away on some house near the mountains. Be the hermit he was always meant to be. That seemed great, but for this, he first needed to break those damn lines of code and make something that _works_. Which is easier said than done.

“I already compromised myself in helping you. Hongbin told me about some things, I understand why the Central would want him terminated, free will and complex feelings can be dangerous when dealing with other people’s lives but… I will not endorse murder.” Taekwoon answer came after a few moments of silence.

It was obvious that Taekwoon was putting himself under great strain to keep this secret, and instead of _saying_ how thankful he truly was - which he was sure, Hongbin was doing - he would do what needed to be done and take this problem off Taekwoon’s back. As soon as possible.

Things changed after Wonshik’s departure from the Central facilities, he was no longer sure what laws defined Taekwoon’s protocols, nor what would happen if he failed, but he would not think about that. Not now.

“Hey hyung, can I choose some songs?” Hongbin asks from the garden, sitting beside one of Taekwoon’s cameras and looking outside.

“Go ahead. I’m overheating, I’m going on standby for a few hours. Call me if you need anything.” And most his cameras go off at once, because Hongbin was there, and would wake him if Wonshik needed any assistance.

The sound of his cooler turning on echoed through the house as Wonshik locked himself up to work until late, once again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I mention the next chapter is all about pain?


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I present you pain in html format  
> in which my this document refuses to be formatted

Weeks.  
Weeks pass and Wonshik and for consequence, Hongbin, are still there.  
Granny is so happy about it, but Hakyeon himself can’t help but feel… Not so enthusiastic about their presence.  
Not much because of Wonshik himself, but because Hongbin seems to have this extremely annoying sense of closeness with Taekwoon and keeps touching him, touching him like Hakyeon himself would never be able to.  
Because they existed in the same state, both intangible, so even if Hakyeon wanted to do something, anything at all, he couldn’t.  
And Wonshik… Wonshik slept in through the day until afternoon, and went to sleep late, sometimes even after Hakyeon himself; he was messy; kept resting his feet on the coffee table; and couldn’t cook, not even to save his own life.  
He and Wonshik became close friends.  
Needless to say, he and Taekwoon never spoke about what happened that night, and sometimes Hakyeon’s tongue itched to ask him to do it again in front of Hongbin only because he could, and because he knew Hongbin would understand things better than Taekwoon did.  
When did he turned into this possessive person?  
He started avoiding Taekwoon, because he simply could not stand seeing him and Hongbin together all the time, and it was not fair to ask Hongbin to keep his distance because where would he go?  
Taekwoon on the other hand stopped looking through his eyes altogether, and gave him space most of the time… It was suffocating, if Wonshik and Granny weren’t there to keep him company, he would start screaming and set the furniture on fire.  
Ok, so maybe not fire but screaming was plausible.  
The more the days go by, the more Taekwoon looks distracted, uninterested, and Hakyeon wonders if it’s his fault.  
Today was one of those days… He started cleaning the house during the afternoon because Wonshik was awake for a change, and he always stood in the way when he tried to clean late at night. Not surprisingly, Wonshik had his feet over the table, fixing Granny’s hairdryer –since when she has a hairdryer?– and looked very much concentrated.  
“Yah! Keep those boots out of the table, Wonshik-ah!” he screamed from the kitchen, washing the lunch dishes and keeping himself busy as Granny watched a movie.  
“Sorry.” Wonshik said, sounding sorry for a change because how can a man forget things this fast? “Hyung, can you help me with something?”  
And Taekwoon was suddenly there, because somehow he was “hyung” for both, Hongbin and Wonshik.  
“What do you need?” he asked, Hongbin laying on the couch behind him, looking bored as always, the lack of internet connection was starting to take it’s toll on him.  
“Is there a store anywhere near that sells copper wire and electrical tape? Ah, I need a new set of pliers too.” He said, cleaning his hand on his pants, leaving a black stain behind, all the way up on his left thigh.  
“I guess there is, but I can't give you certainty or an adress, I’m offline.” Was Taekwoon’s answer, hands in his pockets as he stood in the middle of the room.  
“This is causing some trouble, isn’t it…? Sorry, hyung.” He said, looking up, hands stopping on his works to look at the ice blue light that Taekwoon emanated.  
“The mainframe is investigating, you should be careful, Wonshik, they’ll send someone here in no time. You know that, I can’t lie to them.” Taekwoon says, and he sounds weird, sounds like secrets, and even though Hakyeon says nothing, he is worried. If they were to be caught, Taekwoon would be the receiving end of whatever punishment the government selected for defective machines. “I’ll do what I can, but this is no definitive measure.”  
“I’m sorry hyung. I shouldn’t have done this… If you want I can-“ Wonshik leaves the hairdryer and looks up, at Taekwoon camera near the window, not his holographic form standing in the middle of the room.  
“I understand why you have to do it… Hongbin explained to me.” Wonshik’s eyes go wide for a second and he looks down again, to his feet, and goes quiet, licking his dry lips before speaking again.  
“Hyung I… Telling you this… We are-” he scratches his neck, feeling slightly nervous for a change. Hakyeon goes to the living room as well, his hands still dripping from the dish washing. Granny looks at them from her chair.  
“My integrity is not important, Wonshik, if what you said is the truth, my priority has changed. Feelings may be destructive, it is not safe to recreate human memory in machines… Specially in softwares, if our judgement is clouded by human feeling we will become selfish and no longer appropriate for our function.” He says, sounding way too calm. Sounding… Detached.  
“I will give Hongbin a new system… He won’t connect to the mainframe.” Wonshik says, hands clasped together over his knees, looking at the floor and taking a deep breath, before looking up again, guilty in a way that made Hakyeon feel heavy and uneasy.  
Hongbin was now sitting, looking down, looking frail, swallowing heavily even if he had no body to begin with, just that pinkish hologram.  
“No. Wait a second… Integrity? What are you talking about, Taekwoon?” Hakyeon stepped inside and they all looked at him, Granny was already frowning worriedly.  
“If they try to open my manual control panel, I will lock down and shut everything.”  
“Wait. What?” Hakyeon alternated looking at Taekwoon, and then Wonshik, he simply stopped breathing.  
“I suppose it’s only fair to tell you all… Hongbin could you give us a moment?” Hongbin nods once, vanishes. Wonshik takes a heavy breath, looking at the ceiling and swallowing once. “ Hongbin… Has complex feelings, that’s because I… Based his cortex functions in an existing human, human memory, human experience, human feeling…”  
“What human?” Granny asked, her book long forgotten.  
“A friend of mine. We’ve managed to digitalize and store human comprehension and memories on disk… I’ve used a few of my friend’s memories because he had knowledge and… He was a good man and if I could only pass that essence to my software I would… Ensure a successful update… But…” His voice sounded serious, trying to explain why he had done what he done, and why he could not stop now.  
“But?” Hakyeon prodded because he was already nervous, already apprehensive.  
“But I had no control over him… His emotion range, his data recollection… He could choose to reject the security protocol… If he wants, he is not bound to protect humans like Taekwoon and you.” He says, looking up at Hakyeon at the doorframe, unblinking for more de 47 seconds now. “I can’t kill him… He is sentient, he has free will… It’s like… Murder.”  
Oh, but sacrificing Taekwoon in the process on protecting him was acceptable? Involving them in all this? Offering Taekwoon as a shield because he wouldn’t refuse.  
“You want to sacrifice my Woonie to mend your mistakes?” Grannys voice startle them all, Wonshik looked at her and he had no words because he never asked Taekwoon to shield them for so long, although he may have got accommodated, and for that he was guilty indeed.  
“I offered myself. I cannot not let human life to be terminated.” Taekwoon says.  
“No. You stay quiet, Woonie. That’s so selfish! You can avoid that outcome, cant you?” she asked, raising from her chair. “I didn’t raise my children to teach their son that sacrificing other people to hide their own mistakes is something acceptable.”  
“Grandma Kim…” Wonshik swallows once.  
“It’s not his fault. I was going to terminate my session one way or another.” Taekwoon says and Hakyeon is looking at him with something that looks like dread in his eyes.  
“You… what…?” Hakyeon’s voice is weak.  
“I failed my mission. I must shut down, start over.” Granny’s frown deepens, Wonshik looks surprised. "I wanted to tell you sooner but..."  
“Is it… Because of what happened weeks ago?” Hakyeon is now shaking.  
“I can’t stand to see you suffer because of me.” He says, still in the middle of the room, looking the same as always, but now looks more… distant… not actually there.  
“So you want to die?!” He raises his voice, louder, heavier.  
Before Taekwoon could answer that no, softwares don’t die, that doesn’t even makes sense. Granny walks up to him, one hand in Hakyeon’s arm, he was getting closer to Taekwoon hologram and his shaken hands gave her the impression that he was not in total control of his emotions, he looks at her and her hold tightens, silent encouragement that he seemed to need right now.  
“What is this all about, Woonie?” she looks at him, concern all over her face. Wonshik raises from his seat, eyes wide, looking from Hakyeon to Taekwoon in silence, his mouth open to compensate the shock of his own realization.  
“Have you… developed feelings for this software, Hakyeon?” he looks surprised, curious even, Hakyeon takes one more step, frowning.  
“Don’t call him 'this'.” Is his answer, and if the mood wasn’t so bad, Granny would be cooing by now.  
Instead she looks at Wonshik to add to Hakyeon’s complain “He is one of my boys, Wonshikie, please don’t be rude.” And Wonshik looks apologetic, trying to find a way to explain that he is not calling Taekwoon a thing but defining that he is talking about this extension of the mainframe in particular, since he is a part of a much bigger program, that he helped to create in the first place.  
“I didn’t mean to be rude. Sorry.” He says and looks at Taekwoon but he does not look offended, he knows what he meant.  
She nods and he smiles wearily, Hakyeon is shaking all over, looking at Taekwoon expecting something other than silence, and receiving nothing, so he gasps once before looking at one Taekwoon’s cameras, and muttering.  
“So you want to leave me? You want to leave Granny? You’re giving up? And now you’re trying to justify this by saying you’re doing for Wonshik and Hongbin, is that it?” and his lips tremble a bit on the last few words because he couldn’t have him before, and now he would vanish forever and not even this small comfort of having his voice to keep him company at night would remain.  
Taekwoon stays silent, but he looks hurt, he would let Hakyeon say his fill before anything else. Hongbin is standing beside him in a second, looking between them with his face saddened, a hand resting on Taekwoon shoulder. Hakyeon gasps again, his throat is burning, tight, and Granny looks more and more concerned by the minute. “Are you done? Are you feeling better now?” is all Taekwoon asks and Hakyeon wants to cry.  
He says nothing, turns around and enters his room, banging the door behind himself. Granny looks at Wonshik and then at Taekwoon as she hears noises coming from inside, furniture moving, sound of plastic breaking.  
“Woonie?” she looks a bit nervous.  
“He is… ripping my cameras off the wall.” Taekwoon is looking down at his feet, Granny looks alarmed and Wonshik runs a hand through his hair, closing his eyes and taking one deep breath.  
She sits down, a little shaken as the noises go on, and then stop all at once. Wonshik looks at him once. “Can’t you-”  
“I already denied too much information to the mainframe. You know how Hongbin works, I took the responsibility.” He starts and Hongbin looks guiltily at him. “And now Hakyeon shattered my cameras, if I reconnected, he would be taken and deactivated for violence.” He mutters once, looking at Mrs. Kim as if he had done something horrible. “I am so sorry, Mrs. Kim… So very sorry. It was already too late to stop, my primary mission is to keep the inhabitants of this house safe, this includes Hongbin as well.”  
Her hands shake a little and Wonshik sits beside her, a comforting hand on her shoulder as she nods up to Taekwoon. He would never do anything to hurt anyone, he was a good boy, after all.  
“I broke my security protocol, Wonshik, I’m covering up to violent acts and depredation. I have 48 hours before lock down, you have to find a way to keep Hongbin’s battery running until then.” He looks at Wonshik on the couch, looking borderline pained.  
“What?” Mrs. Kim says before Wonshik can say anything, she looks confused, her voice cracking on the edges.  
Wonshik looks down at her, speaking quietly as if not to startle her. “Hongbin may be sentient, but,” he takes breathes in, looking up for a few seconds, choosing his words. “He is still a normal software, his battery has one or two days of endurance before running out… If his battery dies, so does he, his session  
would be terminated like any other software and he will lose all his experiences and memories. He’d be rebooted and start out from zero again.”  
“I need a moment.” Taekwoon mutters before vanishing, his system is overloading again, he has too much stored in his local unit and not enough space for his processes to run. He needed rest before he combusted for overworking his processors.  
Hakyeons room fell completely silent, and Granny pressed Wonshik’s hands with hers, her hands cold.  
“What do we do now?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> did I mention this will have a sequel?


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> pain happens  
> and now I'm on a roll

Wonshik locked himself in his room for almost a day now, Hakyeon didn’t left his as well, Granny was praying on the living room, and Taekwoon hasn’t move from that spot in the middle of the room since last night.

Hongbin sits beside him, frowning miserably.

“What is it, Binn-ah?” Taekwoon looks down at him, offering help, even if his helping abilities are compromised by the lack of space on his drive.

“I’m sorry, hyung.” He says and twists his fingers over his legs, crossed together on the carpet. Mrs. Kim looks at him sympathetically.

Hakyeon is still in his room, and made has no intention of leaving whatsoever.

He regretted his outburst so much he didn’t have the heart to go out and say anything, because now he's sad and ashamed and sorry… So very sorry. He overheard the conversation the night before and Taekwoon’s voice sounded so sad, so heavy, that even that detached feeling wasn’t enough to cover the small note of suffering audible in his words.

Now because of him maybe Taekwoon never came back, maybe he locked himself up so strongly that he would never come back to him as he was, and a huge part of the blame would be his, because he cannot keep his temper in check, apparently.

_ Shame. _

It hurts every time he hears Taekwoon calling Hongbin  _ “Binn-ah”,  _ Hongbin says there is no need to be this formal with him, they are both similar, after all. Needless to say, Hakyeon didn’t go on sleep mode that night, recharged with his eyes open and his system on full activity. Of course, this was not good for his inner batteries, but batteries seemed to be a recurring problem in this house.

Hakyeon sits on his bed and looks at the pieces of the cameras he broke, regret pilling up inside him as he looks at the torn shards of glass, plastic and metal. He takes one labored breath, looks at the door, he must apologize, for being selfish, for being rude, for causing problems and pain, because he simply could not cope with his problems. 

With  _ loss _ .

He gets up because he has to, touches the doorknob and looks once more at the cameras scattered around, swallows once, and opens the door.

Taekwoon looks at him, and before Hakyeon can bring himself to say anything, Taekwoon is looking down, muttering something, Hongbin looks at him as well, and he shuts everything down, the cameras, the speakers, his hologram vanishes and Hongbin follows suit, and Hakyeon’s chest tighten. He finally did it, he pushed Taekwoon too far. Pushed him  _out._

That’s why Taekwoon does not trust him.

That’s why he keeps Hongbin close.

Because he is stable, gentle, a low burn.

And Hakyeon is not, he is consuming fire, overbearing and loud.

Granny looks over her shoulder when she sees Taekwoon turning everything down, and she is up in a second, around the couch, hugging Hakyeon so tightly he felts his mechanical bones creak just a bit. “How are you feeling?” she asks cautiously, her eyes flickering at the mess in his floor before returning her gaze back to his face.

“I’m sorry…” he shyly hugs her back because he does no feel that he deserves to be comforted when he was the one to cause trouble in the first place.

She shushes him and caresses his hair, he has to bend down for her to do that, and he blinks repeatedly because he feels like crying but he does not have any tears.

Always a crybaby, as Granny would say.

He is alive for what? Two years? He has no idea of how many things work, he is so very selfish at times…

_ Spoiled child.  _ He thinks to himself.

She says that it’s fine, that she is not mad, but Taekwoon seems to be so sad, Hongbin can feel it too, he is concerned, Taekwoon overheats all the time, but Wonshik will do something, he will, she has faith in him.

He nods at her because he doesn’t want her to worry, he looks at Taekwoon processors on standby, looks at Taekwoons cameras turned off, his speaker, his scanners. Everything off.

The cat sits somberly beside Taekwoon’s scanner, it’s tail swaying observantly, but no green light goes off today, no scanner, no nothing.

Granny is clearly concerned.

“I should talk to him. I’ve being so unfair,” he looks at her and she nods sadly because he has, he wanted things that Taekwoon would happily give him, was he capable of giving, but he could not give anything else. “Can I use your room?” he asks her, looking back at the one he just ruined, but he would pay it back to her, for the damage, for the trouble.

She nods slowly, pressing his hands between hers for a few seconds, before releasing him and going to the kitchen, she need to sit, she is far too old for all this emotions.

He watches as she leaves, turns on his heels and goes to her room, sitting quietly for a few seconds as the cameras blink aimlessly on standby. He open and closes his hands a few times, has to turn on the lights yet, but he can see the small cuts over him synthetic skin even in the dark, collateral damage of the sheer brutality of ripping and breaking every camera around his room.

The room is pure silence, aside from his own systems working. He opens his mouth and closes, opens again and lets out one choked sound out. “Taekwoonie…?”

Silence is all the answer he gets.

“Taekwoonie I’m sorry… I… I have being so… Please come here, I need you.”

The silence remains and Hakyeon feels his throat tighten, he closes his eyes and takes one long drawl of useless air. “I… will just hope that your microphones are still on then…” he toys with the small button on his shirt, looking at the floor for a few more seconds. “I’m sorry for everything I did, for everything I said… I was too harsh, I’m not used to been angry… I just… I love you, but you… I won’t excuse myself, I’m selfish, I’m spoiled and demanding and suffocating…”

He stops and sighs, the cold eyes of the small cameras unblinking as they stare at him, he takes one more useless breath.

“But I don’t want to hurt you, I never did. You are in my  _ mind  _ I know I would never… I could never...” and he deflates at once, like the air he was holding was the only thing keeping him up straight, and now he falls boneless back into bed and looks at the ceiling.

_ Are you feeling better now? _

He hears the voice inside his head, and his eyes fly open and he sits up.

“Taekwoon?” he asks once, looking at the cameras, but they are still on standby. “Taekwoon I need to see you.”

_ I can’t. I’m tired, overheating… _

“I’m so sorry.” He breathes out, once, twice, thrice, keeps muttering it under his breath. “I never meant to hurt you, I’m so sorry.”

_ I’m but a software, Hakyeon. I feel no pain. _

“Stop  _ sparing  _ me! I  _ know  _ you do!” he screams because he does not need to be pampered, he needs be told the truth.

Taekwoon is silent again, and Hakyeon wants to scream but he won’t, he  _ has  _ to grow up,  _ has to stop  _ being so _ damn selfish. _

“I want none of this protection  _ bullshit _ ! You are going to  _ die _ , stop being so damn selfless!” he bawls his fists into the sheets and stop because he can't have this half-honesty, can’t have Taekwoon making all the sacrifices.

_ I don’t fear death, Hakyeon. I don’t die. I trust Wonshik to do what’s best once I’m rebooted.   _

“And what do you suggest that I do? Forget everything? Burn the memories I have of you? Because I can.” He asks and he gets up, walking around the room, arms crossed over his chest.

_ I want you to stop and grow up. I want you to go out of this house and make friends. I want you to move out of here with Mrs. Kim and live far away from here. _

His voice was even when he stated.

_ I want you to have a life outside these walls, outside me. _

And Hakyeon rests his head against the cool wallboard, says nothing more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my updates are going to happen all the time  
> be prepared  
> get ready for the sequel friends


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> in which there is only angst

Ten hours before Taekwoon’s shut down and Hakyeon is sitting on the couch, Wonshik storms out of his room, hands full of cables, a black box, he burn his finger on something, trips over a wire but he is going to the middle of the room.

Granny is very pale, and everytime Hakyeon looks at her, he feels guilt pooling up in the pitch of his stomach.

“Ok, so here’s the deal,” he says moving things, almost kicking the cat by accident, ripping Hongbin’s pen drive off the panel and plugging in the black box. “This is sort of working, but I may or may not have warned the mainframe in the process, so we are all going on a trip.” He says and runs to his room once again. Granny blinks a few times.

“What?” she looks at him as her eyebrows slowly knit together.

He comes bag with bags, and boxes and his cellband attached to his wrist.

“It’s hard to explain, but the police is coming, and we  _ must  _ leave.  _ Right now _ .” He says, pilling everything by the door. “It’d be nice if you packed your things. In case you wanna take anything of course.”

“Are you suggesting that we pack our things and run? From the police? From the Central?” Hakyeon wants to empathize the last part as much as possible.

“They are after me, don’t worry.” He says, coming in and out of the rooms. “And maybe Taekwoon for letting me storm in here, but they don't know anything about Hongbin or Hakyeon, Taekwoon is holding them off for now.”

Granny gets up and straighten her clothes. “Ok. Hakyeon let’s pack our things.”

Hakyeon mumbles a quiet alright, and gets up. “What about Woonie?” he hears Granny asking Wonshik from her room.

“He will come with us.” And then there it was, the sound of metal being smashed, Hakyeon gets out of his room in time to see Wonshik  _ tearing  _ something directly from Taekwoon’s hardware. All the lights turn off and Hakyeon’s eyes go wide.

“What are you doing?!” Hakyeon all but screams, and Granny goes out of her room to witness Wonshik cutting wires with a kitchen knife, and holds Hakyeon by the hand, before he takes any other step.

“Improvising.” Wonshik stuffs his pocket with the shattered piece of machinery. “Do you have a hammer?” he asks, walking around taking the hardware off the wall socket, carrying it to the kitchen.

Hakyeon does not punch him solely because he is physically incapable of doing so.

“Are you insane?!” Hakyeon is like he is ready to set himself on fire and  _hug_ Wonshik, and Wonshik looks at Granny, rushing her to get a hold onto Hakyeon because they have to  _ leave _ .

“Trust him, Hakyeonnie. We have to go.” She is far too calm.

Hakyeon finishes packing with the sound of Taekwoon’s hardware being smashed with a hammer.

~+~

They all enter this car. And go off.

He has no idea at all of what the hell is going to happen. But he still very much wants to punch Wonshik in the face.

And he  _ can’t. _

They have being driving for at least one hour when Wonshik says.

“I’ll have to open you up, Hakyeon.”

Hakyeon raised his eyes from the spot were he had being mopping the entire trip, because Grammy told him not to worry and he trusts her, and trusts Wonshik on some levels too but he just saw him  _ smash Taekwoon with a hammer _ . He is now in pieces, on a box, in the trunk.

Wonshik assures him everything is fine, but nothing seems fine. Not even close to that, and if Taekwoon died because of him…

_ If Taekwoon died because of him… _

God help them all.

“Excuse me?” Hakyeon is cautious, squinting his eyes, will he “open him up” with a hammer too? He bites that part back.

“I have to remove your tracker.” He is too calm, however Hakyeon sees them leaving the town, and he is not so sure himself. “But I need to stop on a place first.”

Wonshik takes stops suddenly, under a bridge, and leave the car. Hakyeon looks at Granny on the backseat, she looks as composed as ever, if a little tired. She looks at Hakyeon and smiles and he have to ask her. “Aren’t you worried?”

He shakes her head and sighs. “My husband and I had our fair share of impulsive decisions before settling down, and I trust Wonshikie. He’s a good boy.” 

Wonshik is talking to a guy that seems much younger than him, and then he walks back to the trunk, taking a box out, but not any box, the box containing Taekwoon parts in it.

Hakyeon leaves the car in the blink of an eye.

“What are you doing? Again.” he asks, serious, looking from Wonshik to the other kid like he is seriously thinking about stopping them if they give the wrong answer.

“Giving Sanghyuk Taekwoon’s pieces.” He gives this boy, Sanghyunk, the box, that he immediately takes away, to his own car, opening the passenger door to put the pieces inside, securing it with the seat-belt.

“Kim Wonshik you are testing limits today,” Hakyeon says and he is so very much tempted to at least  _ say something _ , because he can’t do anything.

“Hakyeon, I can’t keep him, the police will eventually storm in our house and he can’t be our software, but I know how much you…” he makes a gesture with his hands to symbolize Hakyeon’s feelings before going on again. “ _ care  _ about him and all, so I’ll give him to Sanghyuk. He will rebuild him and he will be back eventually.”  He says, and he is squinting his eyes at the sun and he looks a little out of breath.

So maybe he is not all  _that_ calm.

“ _ Eventually.”  _ Hakyeon repeats because  _ eventually  _ can be a long time.

Granny gets out of the car and looks at them with serious eyes. “Why is he taking my boy?” she asks, looking at Wonshik, and he walks to her and holds her hand.

“I’m giving him to Sanghyuk for now. He’ll be fine, I trust him.” And he looks at Hakyeon who had being standing in the same spot looking as sour as he was from the moment he saw him ripping Taekwoon’s circuit apart. “It doesn’t matter if he is back, if you are deactivated, Hakyeon. I can’t let that happen.” He says, and he looks really sorry for everything, for the first time in almost 30 hours, and maybe it’s the adrenaline going down, letting him  _ think _ .

“But  _ its my fault,  _ Wonshik!” he screams and Sanghyuk looks at him with the same neutral expression he had been wearing from the second he got out of the car. “ _ I did this _ !  _ All  _ this! He is paying for what  _ I  _ did!”

Wonshik straightens his back and blinks once. “Then consider this your punishment, for the time being at least.” He nods to Sanghyuk, who gets inside the car and takes off without another word. Granny looks at him go with heavy eyes, she looks far more hurt by this than she verbalizes, and when she goes inside, Hakyeon hears her sobbing once, just this once, and then go completely silent.

Hakyeon goes back to the car feeling worse than he was when they left, Wonshik rests his head against the steering wheel looking stressed, his knuckles white and his eyes closed, breathing in deep and holding the air inside.

“Ok. I’m fine, let’s go.”

They don’t speak for the rest of the trip.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> you'll all be happy to know that the pain will end soon


	18. Chapter 18

Somehow Wonshik manages to convince the police that they left because he was tired of the old software that didn’t work properly. That he was going to contact the Central and ask for a new one that works this time, that he is sorry for scaring them, he did ask him to go offline, for turning him off earlier so they could move out.

He can pay the fine for breaking the law, yes.

Wonshik looks miserable enough once he closes the door for Hakyeon to let it slide. Granny sips her tea tiredly, and when Wonshik leaves the room she looks up at Hakyeon with something like grief in her eyes.

“I miss my boy, Hakyeonnie.” she says, barely a whisper, and her voice sounds like mourn, sounds like funerals, and Hakyeon feels sick all over again. He doesn’t say he’s sorry because he does not want to say anything right now, he hugs her in silence and rests his chin on top of her head.

She knows Wonshik does what he must, but that does not stop her from missing him all the same, and from the sound of glasses and bottles in the kitchen, and the sound of Wonshik’s steps, too strong on the floor, Hakyeon knows he is not much better.

After all, Taekwoon was already the house software when Wonshik was a kid, so Hakyeon does not ask, he keeps his venom inside and swallow the bitterness he feels creeping in, like he is supposed to.

Hakyeon puts Granny to sleep that night, stays with her until she difts off, and closes the door like he was never there;  he meets Wonshik in the kitchen, Hongbin’s pen drive on one hand, and a half-full glass of whiskey on the other. Hakyeon offers a hand and his shoulder because Wonshik’s eyes are extremely red - be it from the lack of sleep or held back tears - and Wonshik lowers his gaze, drowns the rest of his cup and stands up. They look at each other in silence for a few seconds, and Wonshik is walking away, probably he will just sleep on the couch tonight.

He never knew about this house, he doesn’t ask, just sits alone in the chair Wonshik previously was and looks at the blisterings on his hands, feeling lonely, feeling a half of himself missing. Taekwoon’s folder empty inside his brain, he can’t touch it, can’t remove it, he will be there, as untouchable as Taekwoon was, and Hakyeon chokes down a sob he has being holding for days, and the lack of tears does not stop him from crumbling over the table, as quiet as possible as to not warn anybody. He will mourn in silence, for he does not know if he need to mourn in the first place.

But this silence, this silence threatens to swallow him whole.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wait for the epilogue


	19. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would not let yall suffer this much

The next time they meet Hakyeon was already living on the first floor of their new house, and even if Hongbin was not ideal, considering he had no internet connection whatsoever, he warmed up to him in the end.

Wonshik was there, too, most of the time, and after Wonshik’s friend took whatever remnants of Taekwoon with him, Hakyeon was forced to do as he was previously told, he grew up, made friends, and got a life outside those walls.

Eventually he got a job, working with Jaehwan, an android much like himself, that worked on a night club as a bartender. Not everyday -of course, Granny was the priority- only on weekends, when he needed help the most and Wonshik was home to keep Granny company.

Five more years passed since they moved, since Hakyeon’s security chip has been removed, and sometimes he forgot things about the beginning.

About when it was just him, Granny and the cat, living with Taekwoon in that house near the center. But things changed since that time, and he no longer felt crushed by sorrow everytimes he acknowledged the empty file in his head where Taekwoon’s software has previously been installed.

Hakyeon is almost never at home at night, he discovered a very strong passion for dancing, and stopped caring about sleep mode.

Almost six years without Taekwoon, and Hakyeon is no longer consumed by memories all the time. Tonight he sits by the bar, looking at Jaehwan as he poured some girl a drink.

Jaehwan was very much compromised with the daughter of his user, and Hakyeon would  _ always  _ laugh at his speeches about how awkward it was to date her, she saw her as a  _ baby _ .  _ A baby, Hakyeon! Do you understand how babies happen, because I certainly don’t. STOP LAUGHING, MY GOD HOW HEARTLESS CAN YOU BE?  _

But even with his head over heels for the daughter, he still flirted aimlessly with every single woman that set foot inside this bar, always.

_ It’s good for business, _ he winked every time Hakyeon questioned him about it. 

Hakyeon just looked at him like he always did.

Resigned.

He looks around again, at first it was truly a surprise to see just how much humans and androids seemed to mix at night, but now it was old news.

“Hey, hyung. That guy you left with last week came by looking for you.” Jaehwan had a bottle in his hands that he moved around as he spoke. “I said you had a new boyfriend, per usual, and do you believe he said he didn't care? Like, he was totally confident that you would ditch your hot imaginary boyfriend that I named Rick, to stay with him. Can you  _ believe _ this? I mean he was such a six out of ten.” He snorted ungraciously, setting the bottle down after serving a couple that stumbled over to the bar.

Hakyeon looks at Jaehwan and he is offended, he would  _ never  _ hit on a six out of ten. “Now you lookit here,  _ Mr. Lee _ .” he said making that face, the one he used when he got displeased at Jaehwan’s antics.

“Woah, no need for the ‘Mr.Lee’ face. Chill, hyung.” He holds his hands up defensively, getting a glass and giving it to some guy with a silly accent.

Hakyeon makes an annoyed sound but otherwise let it slide. Jaehwan smiles and bends over the bar to whisper to Hakyeon in his super secret voice. “And I guess there is an eight out of ten looking at you right now.” he winks exaggeratedly at Hakyeon, and then leaves as the stranger approaches.

He taps the cellband on his wrist, a message from Jaehwan saying that at least this time, it was not a  _ six.  _ Hakyeon ignores him for the sake of their friendship, but he is not in the mood to roll around with some stranger, actually not in the mood for the cleaning part that came afterwards, and the insufferable amount of calls and voicemails after he decides that okay, it’s time to stop.

So he gets up before this guy has a chance to say anything, no visual contact. His cell buzzes again and he looks up to see Jaehwan typing in caps.

 

_ WHY’D YOU LEFT MR.EIGHT ALONE??? HE IS SITTING BY HIMSELF NOW. _

 

Apparently Jaehwan would not turn off the caps. The messages all came in quick succession, too fast for Hakyeon, who was not even interested.

 

_ HAKYEON HE LOOKS SO SAD.  _

 

_ HAKYEON COME BACK HERE. _

 

_ HOLD ON I’LL TAKE A PICTURE, YOU DIDN'T LOOK AT HIM DID YOU? _

 

_ OH MY GOD HE IS HERE FOR SIXTEEN SECONDS AND YOU’VE ALREADY RUINED HIS NIGHT  _

 

_ HAKYEON MISTER EIGHT IS LEAVING.  _

 

_ HE LEFT. TWO MINUTES INSIDE AND HE LEFT. HOW TERRIBLE CAN YOU BE??  _

 

_ I’m sad for mr.eight now :( _

 

Hakyeon is already downstairs and heading for the subway when another message comes, it's not a surprise when Jaehwan’s name lightens up. A photo attached to the message this time.

 

_ Here a photo of Mr.eight he shall not be forgotten :( _

 

A voice from the speaker is announcing the news about maintenance next week. The photos finishes downloading by the time Hakyeon reaches the scanners in front of the escalators.

He has never ran back so fast in his entire life.

How come Mr.eight looks just like Taekwoon?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> finished  
> see you at the sequel <3


End file.
